Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat futures fell 1.6 percent on Thursday, snapping a six-session streak of gains that took prices to seven-month highs a day earlier, traders said. K.C. hard red winter wheat futures and MGEX spring wheat futures also eased. Seasonal pressure from an accelerating winter wheat harvest weighed on prices, as growers continued to gather crops in southern portions of the US Plains and eastern Midwest.
A stronger dollar, which makes US commodities less attractive to investors looking for a hedge against inflation, added pressure to prices. Many investors were also squaring positions ahead of Friday's monthly supply-demand reports from the US Department of Agriculture. The agency is expected to raise its total US wheat production estimate and boost its ending stocks outlook. Weekly US wheat export sales of 223,800 tonnes were below analyst expectations, which ranged from 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes. Brazil's troubled poultry and pork producers are resorting to feeding their animals wheat as an emergency substitute amid record prices of corn, experts say.