Spring wheat futures at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange closed up on Tuesday after posting new contract highs on slipover from Chicago Board of Trade wheat amid concerns about tightening global supplies, traders said.
Front-month MGE July rose to $5.72, the highest spot price for spring wheat since June 1996. The market was lifted by follow-through momentum from the release on Monday of bullish wheat production and supply/demand data from the USDA, traders said.
The government forecast world wheat ending stocks for 2007/08 at a 30-year low, due in part to drought in Ukraine and Russia. "It's continued momentum from the USDA reports," a trader said.
July spring wheat settled on Tuesday at $5.62, up 6 cents, while September was up 8-1/4 at $5.73 and December was up 8-1/2 at $5.88-1/2. March and May 2008 settled above $6. Funds bought about 1,000 wheat contracts in Minneapolis and 7,000 lots in Chicago, traders said.
Volume was estimated by the Minneapolis exchange at 6,048 contracts. Additional support stemmed from USA's weekly crop progress report released late on Monday, showing 81 percent of the US spring wheat crop was rated in good to excellent condition, down from 85 percent the previous week.
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