Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell on Thursday for a sixth straight session, pressured by heavy deliveries against the December contract and technical selling as most months set life-of-contract lows, traders said. Additional pressure noted from the expanding wheat harvests in Australia and Argentina, adding to already-plentiful global wheat inventories.
Most-active CBOT March wheat settled down 7-1/4 cents at $3.95-1/2 per bushel after falling below psychological support at the $4 mark and notching a contract low at $3.93. Contract lows were also set in K.C. hard red winter wheat futures, with the March ending down 7-1/4 cents at $4.03 a bushel. MGEX spring wheat closed modestly higher, supported by scarce global supplies of top-quality wheat. The March settled up 2-1/2 cents at $5.37 a bushel.
The CBOT reported 901 deliveries against December futures, with the Term house account stopping 203 lots. The exchange also reported 810 deliveries against K.C. December futures. The MGEX reported 77 December spring wheat deliveries. The US Department of Agriculture reported export sales of US wheat in the latest week at 483,500 tonnes, in line with trade expectations for 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes. Ahead of Statistics Canada's final 2016-17 crop production estimates due on Tuesday, analysts on average expect the government to report Canadian all-wheat production at 30.7 million tonnes, the largest in three years. India importers purchased about 500,000 tonnes of wheat, largely from Australia, in the past month as India continues its large import program, European traders said.