Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ended higher on Monday, with the March contract settling above its 200-day moving average on technical buying and fresh US sales to Iraq, traders said. Trade was choppy, with values pressured by disappointing weekly export sales and inspections data.
K.C. hard red winter and MGEX spring wheat also closed higher. Iraq bought 200,000 tonnes of hard wheat to be sourced from Canada, the United States and Australia in an international tender, European traders said. Frigid temperatures in the central US Plains this week could cause spotty freeze damage to crops in about 10 percent of the hard red winter wheat belt, but snow that fell over the weekend should help limit losses.
USDA reported export sales of US wheat in the week ended December 18 at 293,100 tonnes, toward the low end of trade expectations of 250,000 to 450,000 tonnes. USDA reported export inspections of US wheat in the week ended December 25 at 198,525 tonnes, below a range of trade expectations of 325,000 to 475,000 tonnes.