Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade closed mixed on Thursday, with pressure from technical selling and inter-market spreading versus K.C. wheat offsetting support from better-than-expected weekly US export sales data. Softer dollar lends support, making US grain more attractive to those holding other currencies.
K.C. hard red winter wheat futures closed higher, regaining some premium against CBOT wheat after a sharp drop this month. The premium for K.C. July wheat over CBOT July fell to 18-1/4 cents by Wednesday, from roughly 50 cents at the start of the month. MGEX spring wheat futures closed mixed, pressured by a larger-than-expected Canadian wheat plantings figure.
Statistics Canada projected 2015 Canadian all-wheat seeding at 24.8 million acres, above the average trade estimate of 24.2 million and up 3.9 percent from 2014. USDA reported export sales of US wheat in the week ended April 16 at 397,500 tonnes for 2014/15, above trade expectations, and 126,700 tonnes for 2015/16. The London-based International Grains Council trimmed its forecast of 2015/16 world wheat production to 705 million tonnes, down 4 million from its previous forecast and down from 721 million in 2014/15.