Spring wheat futures on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange closed lower on Thursday, following declines in outside wheat markets, but bullish export data underpinned values, traders said.
The US Department of Agriculture's weekly exports sales report underscored robust global demand for hard wheat. USDA reported export sales of US wheat last week at 1.4 million tonnes, a marketing year high.
The total included a sale of 800,000 tonnes of HRW wheat to Iraq. Weekly sales of hard red spring wheat totalled 218,900 tonnes, while sales of soft red winter wheat totalled only 10,900 tonnes.
Volume was estimated by the exchange at 5,016 contracts, up from 3,348 on Wednesday. Prices also drew underlying support from the details of the US Department of Agriculture's November supply/demand reports, which adjusted US wheat export estimates by class.