Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were higher at midday on Friday, supported by speculative buying, traders said. Large speculators were establishing new long positions and/or covering shorts at the start of a new month, they said.
Concerns about hot, dry weather in Ukraine and Russia, along with excessive rain in the US Plains hard red winter wheat belt, added support. As of 12:20 pm CDT (1720 GMT), July wheat was up 7-3/4 cents at $5.24-3/4 per bushel, after posting a fresh one-month high at $5.30-1/2. Back months were up 6-1/2 to down 5 cents. Contract highs were hit in several deferred contracts, including September and December.
Man Financial net bought 300 July contracts, traders said. A strong number for wheat in the US Agriculture Department's weekly export sales report was also supportive. The USDA on Friday reported weekly export sales of US wheat at 709,900 tonnes (old and new crop), above trade estimates for 250,000 to 450,000 tonnes.
In Kansas, the largest US wheat producing state, rains were spreading diseases that were likely to cut yield potential of the hard red winter wheat crop. "We've got a plethora of foliar leaf diseases leaf rust, tan spot, powdery mildew. You name it, we got it," Kansas State University extension agronomist Jim Shroyer said. "They are going to take their share, a big share, out of the yield potential of the wheat that survived the freeze."