Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell early on Thursday for a second straight session on technical selling and profit-taking after the March contract this week set a 2-1/2-month high, traders said. Chicago Board of Trade corn futures closed modestly higher on Thursday, supported by technical buying and bullish weekly data on the production of corn-based ethanol, traders said.
CBOT March wheat settled down 7-1/2 cents at $4.23-1/2 per bushel. The contract on Tuesday reached $4.37-1/2 on Tuesday, its highest since late October.
K.C. March hard red winter wheat ended down 10 cents at $4.42-1/4 a bushel.
MGEX spring wheat bucked the lower trend with the March contract rising 3 cents at $5.76-1/2 a bushel, supported by tight global supplies of top-quality milling wheat.
Consultancy Strategie Grains lowered its forecast for the 2017 European Union soft wheat harvest by 1.2 million tonnes to 143.8 million, citing severe cold this month.
The International Grains Council raised its outlook for 2016/17 world wheat production by 3 million tonnes to 752 million tonnes.
CBOT March corn settled up 1-1/4 cents at $3.66-1/4 per bushel.
Weekly US ethanol production rose to a fresh record of 1.05 million barrels per day, the Energy Information Administration said. Inventories rose by 1.11 million barrels to 21.12 million barrels, the highest since July.
The International Grains Council raised its forecast for the 2016/17 world corn crop by 3 million tonnes to a record 1.045 billion tonnes, mainly reflecting an improved outlook for China.