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CBOT wheat closes higher on USDA forecasts

CHICAGO: Soft red winter wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade finished with gains on Wednesday after gliding to seven-week highs after US Department of Agriculture reports showed smaller stocks and acreage devoted to wheat.

CBOT wheat closed 4 to 5 cents higher with March up 5 at $2.58-3/4.

"It is a complete change in the perception of fundamentals, there wasn't a bearish number that came out today," said Charlie Sernatinger, analyst for E.D. & F. Man International.

The USDA's first official projections on winter wheat planted for harvest in 2000 indicated that US farmers continued to shift away from the crop in favour of other grains and oilseeds, traders and analysts said.

US farmers seeded 42.916 million acres to winter wheat last fall, down from 43.431 million the previous year and the lowest plantings figure since 1972, USDA said.

USDA data also showed a shrinking stocks outlook for US grains, though supplies historically were still large and the export outlook for wheat remained stable compared to previous projections.

In its quarterly stocks report also out Wednesday, the USDA listed US wheat stocks in all positions as of Dec. 1 at 1.879 billion bushels, down from 1.896 billion a year earlier and below trade expectations for roughly 1.939 billion.

Projected US wheat stocks at the end of 1999/2000 were dropped to 972 million bushels from a previous figure of 1.027 billion.

ABN AMRO Inc. bought 500 March contracts, E.D. and F. Man International and Term Commodities each bought 400 March and Salomon Smith Barney bought 300 March.

CBOT wheat futures volume was estimated by the CBOT at 30,000 lots, above the 23,598 lots traded Tuesday.

Wheat options volume was estimated at 11,000 lots.-Reuters