Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade rose Wednesday on worries about tightening global supplies as drought hurts yield prospects in Europe and other key production areas, traders said. CBOT September soft red winter wheat settled up 4-1/2 cents at $5.58-1/4 per bushel, after reaching $5.65, its highest since May 29. K.C. September hard red winter wheat futures ended up 7-1/4 cents at $5.63-3/4 a bushel and MGEX September spring wheat rose 1-3/4 cents to end at $6.08.
EU benchmark wheat prices topped 3-1/2 year highs on new signs that global milling wheat supplies could be lower than expected in northern Europe. Germany's 2018 grains harvest will slump about 20 percent on the year to around 36 million tonnes after crops suffered massive damage, German farmers association DBV said.
Australia's wheat stocks at the end of the marketing year on September 30 are expected to decline to 4 million tonnes, half of last year's, after a second year of drought and production declines, a senior official at brokerage Ikon Commodities said.