Front-month wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade closed unchanged on Friday following a choppy, technical trade, as poor export demand for US wheat offset support from short-covering and strength in corn and soy, traders said. K.C. hard red winter and MGEX spring wheat closed narrowly mixed. Corn turned lower in the final minute of trade, weighing on wheat, as traders liquidated positions ahead of the expiration of December options.
CME Group was poised to lower the maximum storage rate on deliverable CBOT wheat to 5 cents per bushel per month, from the current 8 cents. The December-March wheat spread averaged 40.1 percent of full carry during a month long observation period that ended on Friday. CME lowers the storage rate when the spread averages 50 percent of full carry or less. Poor germination of the US Midwest soft red winter wheat crop remains a concern, but the Plains hard red winter wheat crop entered dormancy in relatively good shape.
French farmers made modest progress last week in rounding off maize harvesting and wheat sowing, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed. Asian flour millers are looking at buying Canadian spring wheat for shipment early next year as supplies from drought-hit Australia are likely to remain slow, traders said. For the week, CBOT December fell 13-1/4 cents or 2.4 percent, a setback from last week's 8.9 percent surge. K.C. December wheat fell 1-1/2 cents or 0.2 percent on the week, and MGEX December spring wheat fell 6 cents or 1 percent.