US Wheat Review on Friday: Falls on ample supply; big deliveries seen

 

 

U.S. wheat futures fell Friday on continued bearishness about ample world supplies and lackluster demand, with traders looking ahead to first notice day Monday.

 

Chicago Board of Trade December wheat closed down 7 3/4 cents at US$4.95 1/4 per bushel, up 8 cents on the week. Kansas City Board of Trade December wheat lost 8 cents to US$5.16 3/4, and Minneapolis December wheat dropped 10 3/4 cents to US$5.40.

 

There was a lack of fresh news to encourage bulls ahead of the weekend, analysts said. Deliveries against the CBOT September wheat contract on first notice day Monday are expected to be heavy as cash prices are weak and there is a lot of wheat to go around, they said.

 

Deliveries on Monday should be 2,000 contracts to 5,000 contracts, according to AgResource Company. Bryce Knorr, analyst for Farm Futures, pegged deliveries at around 1,500 to 2,000 contracts.

 

As of Thursday, 6,219 wheat contracts were registered for delivery, according to a CME Group Inc. registrar's report. Deliverable stocks in CBOT-approved warehouses totaled 52.244 million bushels as of Friday, the exchange said.

 

Commodity funds sold an estimated 2,000 contracts at the CBOT.

 

 

Kansas City Board of Trade

 

KCBT wheat slumped on a lack of export demand and fresh supportive news, traders said. Export sales started off slow this marketing year, and the demand front remained quiet Friday, traders said.

 

Weekly U.S. wheat export sales, announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, were a marketing-year high. However, more business is needed, an analyst said.

 

KCBT December wheat closed up 7 cents on the week.

 

 

Minneapolis Grain Exchange

 

MGE wheat led the downside. The December contract closed down 4 cents on the week.

 

Warmer, drier weather in the U.S. northern Plains next week will be "excellent" for spring wheat maturation and harvest, according to a forecast from World Weather Inc. Wheat in many areas isn't ripe enough to cut yet due to late planting and cool, cloudy weather this summer, producers said.