CBOT wheat futures rise on rising demand

CBOT wheat futures rose on Thursday on expectations of rising demand for pasta and other products that home-bound consumers were likely to eat as the world weathers the coronavirus pandemic, traders said. There also was talk of Chinese purchasers asking questions about possible deals for US wheat but there were no indications of any sales being finalized, traders said.
The most-active CBOT May soft red winter wheat contract surged 5.2%, breaking through technical resistance at its 20-day, 30-day and 200-day moving averages. It briefly topped its 100-day moving average but failed to hold support above that level. The US Agriculture Department on Thursday morning said that wheat export sales totaled 482,000 tonnes in the week ended March 12. Analysts' estimates for weekly wheat export sales had ranged from 250,000 tonnes to 700,000 tonnes. Three South Korean flour mills bought a total of approximately 136,000 tonnes of milling wheat to be sourced from the United States in a tender, European traders said.