Talk that China may have switched orders for soft red winter (SRW) wheat to hard red spring (HRS) wheat and profit-taking by speculators drove Chicago Board of Trade SRW wheat futures to a lower close on Friday, traders said.
CBOT wheat closed 1 to 5-3/4 cents per bushel lower, with December down 5-3/4 at $3.16-1/2 per bushel. Pit sources said several of the commodity funds, which had bought the market in the week, sold the market on Friday.
Volume was estimated at 35,100 futures and 6,693 options. CBOT wheat was hit hard compared with MGE spring wheat futures amid the talk that China might be choosing higher-quality spring wheat instead of SRW wheat.