CHICAGO: US wheat futures surged on Friday, with the Chicago Board of Trade's most-active soft red winter wheat contract closing the day up nearly 4 percent, amid signs of improving export demand, traders said.
* CBOT December soft red winter wheat closed up 18 cents at $5.05-1/4 a bushel on Friday.
* But Friday's rally could not offset a rough week for the most-actively traded contract: For the week, CBOT December wheat fell 9-1/2 cents a bushel, or 1.8 percent, to record its third consecutive weekly decline.
* K.C. December hard red winter wheat settled up 13-3/4 cents at $5.00-1/4 a bushel on Friday, and MGEX December spring wheat closed the day up 8-1/4 cents at $5.77-3/4 a bushel.
* Earlier on Friday, US wheat was the lowest offered to Egypt, the world's largest buyer, before freight costs at $219 a tonne free-on-board (FOB) by Cargill - but the price climbed to as much as $256.50 a tonne cost and freight (C&F) with shipping costs at $37.50 a tonne.
* Later in the day, Russian wheat was the lowest offered at its state tender on Friday, after US origin wheat failed to compete on high shipping costs.
* One trader said a major grain handler was buying half a million bushels of US wheat at 80 cents per bushel over CBOT futures in US cash markets, which was about 10 cents above other buyers in the market on Friday.
* CME Group reported that the number of wheat contracts registered for delivery against CBOT futures fell by 52 contracts on Thursday as Cargill canceled receipts at its Mount Vernon, Indiana, facility. Such moves tend to indicate a firming cash market.
* Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev raised the country's 2018-19 wheat export estimate at his Friday meeting with major traders, who interpreted it as another sign of an easing risk of export curbs.
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