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CBOT wheat closes lower on exports and weather

CHICAGO: Soft red winter wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed lower on Thursday on scant export readings and on outlooks for moisture next week in the US Great Plains hard red winter wheat region, traders said.

CBOT wheat closed 1/2 to 3-1/2 cents lower, with March down 2-3/4 at $2.62-1/2.

Wheat tried to hold firm early but advances were trimmed on the unspectacular government export readings and prospects for moisture in the dry US Plains winter wheat belt.

The US Department of Agriculture latest weekly export sales report, released early Thursday, listed net US wheat sales for the week ended Feb. 10 at 448,700 tonnes, 34 percent below the previous week and equal to the four-week average. Expectations ranged from 300,000 to 600,000 tonnes.

Actual exports for the same period totalled 409,700 tonnes, 10 percent below the four-week average.

Rain and snow were expected to move through much of the central Plains and Midwest by next week. The latest 6-to-10-day outlook from the National Weather Service projected above-normal to much above-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation Feb. 22-26 for Kansas, Oklahoma and north Texas.

So far this week only light precipitation has been noted in the Plains States and more moisture is needed, Plains wheat sources said.

In other export news, Japan's Food Agency said Thursday it bought 230,000 tonnes of wheat, including 145,000 from the United States, in its weekly tender.

Up to late trading, Cargill Inc. sold 200 March contracts, FIMAT Futures Inc. sold 300 March and E.D. & F. Man International bought 200 March, floor sources said. In spreading, E.D. & F. Man International bought 1,500 March and sold 1,500 July at a price difference of 22-1/4 cents.

CBOT wheat futures volume was estimated by the CBOT at 17,000 lots, below the 37,781 lots traded Wednesday.

Wheat options volume was estimated at 3,500 lots.-Reuters