Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures advanced on Friday as an absence of December deliveries on first notice day and firming cash markets sparked a round of short-covering, traders said. CBOT benchmark March soft red winter wheat settled up 8 cents at $5.15-3/4 per bushel while the thinly traded December contract soared 19-1/4 cents, also ending at $5.15-3/4.
K.C. March hard red winter wheat ended up 7-3/4 cents at $5.00-1/4 a bushel and MGEX March spring wheat rose 7-3/4 cents at $5.75-3/4. The CBOT reported no deliveries against either the CBOT December contract or the K.C. December contract.
The MGEX reported 871 December spring wheat deliveries, but spring wheat futures drew support from the fact that the CHS Hedging house account stopped all but one. Protein premiums for hard red winter wheat in the Kansas City cash market on Thursday rose by 3 to 25 cents per bushel, reflecting demand from flour millers.
Wheat got a boost from short-covering across the grains floor at the end of the month, and ahead of the potentially pivotal G20 meeting set to include head-to-head discussions between US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Saturday. Commodity funds hold a net short position in wheat, soybeans and corn.