US wheat futures fell sharply on Wednesday, after rallying the first two days of this week, as grains and other commodities were dragged down by declines in the US stock market and crude oil, traders said. Profit-taking and technical selling noted. Ample world wheat supplies and lack of export demand for US wheat add pressure.
Trade talking about the feasibility of importing feed wheat via the US East Coast, given cheap ocean freight, but Black Sea wheat, while far cheaper, has quality problems. At the Chicago Board of Trade, December soft red winter wheat settled down 35-1/4 cents, or 6.2 percent, at $5.37-1/4 per bushel; March was down 35-1/4 at $5.58.
Funds were net sellers of 4,000 CBOT wheat contracts. At the Kansas City Board of Trade, December hard red winter wheat ended down 32-1/4 cents, or 5.3 percent, at $5.76-3/4. At the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, December spring wheat was down 24 cents, or 3.6 percent, at $6.44; March down 27 at $6.34-3/4.
Plentiful global stocks highlighted by India, formally a large wheat importer, allowing the export of 2 million tonnes of wheat. Little support from Australian government cutting its 2008/09 wheat forecast to 19.91 million tonnes, from 22.46 million. Taiwan bought 52,850 tonnes of US wheat.