Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat futures ended weaker on Thursday on profit-taking after a rally to 10-month highs as dry weather threatened crop prospects in the US Plains and other key production areas around the world. CBOT July soft red winter wheat ended down 3/4 cent at $5.30-1/4 a bushel after earlier hitting a peak of $5.45-1/4, the highest since July 31.
K.C. hard red winter wheat and Minneapolis spring wheat markets also closed lower. A dry forecast for the drought-hit southern US Plains fuelled concerns about the HRW crop while dry weather also threatened harvests in Canada, eastern Australia and southern Russia. Russia's Sovecon agriculture consultancy cut its 2018 Russian wheat harvest forecast to 77 million tonnes, from 78.2 million previously, citing weather conditions in Siberia.
The US Department of Agriculture reported export sales of US wheat in the week to May 17 at 452,300 tonnes (old and new crop years combined), in line with trade expectations.