Chicago Board of Trade front-month wheat futures fell for the first time since February 12 on Thursday as investors locked in profits from a four-day rally that pushed prices to their highest in two months. Deferred CBOT wheat contracts posted modest gains in thin volume as traders unwound bull spreads built up as the front-month contract jumped nearly 11 percent since the start of the month.
MGEX spring wheat and KC hard red winter wheat followed a similar pattern, with nearby offerings falling while deferred months edged higher. The US Agriculture Department said on Thursday that 2014 domestic wheat plantings would be 55.5 million acres, a drop of 700,000 acres from 2013. Analysts were expecting a USDA report on Friday morning to show export sales of wheat were between 400,000 and 700,000 tonnes (old-crop and new-crop combined) in the latest reporting week compared to 626,600 tonnes a week earlier.