US wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade closed lower on Tuesday after the US Department of Agriculture raised its estimates of domestic and global wheat stockpiles, traders said. But wheat futures closed mostly higher in Kansas City and Minneapolis Grain Exchange spring wheat futures rallied on firm cash markets.
USDA pegged 2008 US all-wheat production at 2.462 billion bushels, nearly unchanged from July and in line with an average of analysts' estimates for 2.465 billion. USDA raised US 2008/09 wheat ending stocks to 574 million bushels, up from 537 million in July.
USDA raised world wheat production to a record 670.75 million tonnes, up from 664.24 million; world wheat ending stocks rise 3 million tonnes to 136.16 million. At the CBOT, September soft red winter wheat settled 3-1/2 cents lower at $7.90-1/4 per bushel, with back months down 1 to 9 cents.
Commodity funds were net sellers of 2,000 CBOT wheat contracts, traders said. At the Kansas City Board of Trade, September hard red winter wheat rallied to end 2 cents higher at $8.27 a bushel, with deferred months unchanged to up 6 cents. At the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, September spring wheat settled 9-1/2 cents higher at $8.91-1/4 a bushel, with December up 6-1/2 cents at $8.91-3/4.
MGE September/December spread last traded at a 2-cent inverse, reflecting firming cash markets for spring wheat amid harvest delays in the northern US Plains and end-user demand for high-protein wheat.
Spring wheat ratings decline; USDA said 53 percent of the US spring wheat crop was rated good/excellent, down from 56 percent a week earlier. Pakistan bought an additional 418,000 tonnes more wheat in a tender opened last week, for a total of 518,000 tonnes.