Soft red winter wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were mostly firm at midday on Thursday but nearby contracts were choppy, retreating from early strength in spread-dominated trade, traders said. Front-month July wheat turned lower at times as firms sold Chicago wheat and bought Minneapolis Grain Exchange July spring wheat on inter-market spreads.
As of 11:55 am CDT (1655 GMT), CBOT July wheat was up 1/2 cent at $6.05-1/2 per bushel, trading in a wide range from $6.15 down to $5.92-1/4. Back months were up 6 to down 3 cents. In Minneapolis, July spring wheat was up 15-1/2 cents at $6.06 per bushel.
CBOT wheat normally trades at a discount to the high-protein spring wheat futures traded in Minneapolis. But recent strength in CBOT wheat amid tightening world wheat supplies has inverted the relationship between the two markets.
The spread appeared to be correcting, with Minneapolis wheat gaining back ground against Chicago. Traders were also selling Kansas City wheat futures against Minneapolis. MGE spring wheat got a boost on Thursday when the US Department of Agriculture said exporters reported the sale of 160,000 tonnes of US spring wheat to an unknown destination for 2007/08.
Bullish weekly export data supported values at all three markets. The US Department of Agriculture said 541,000 tonnes of US wheat sold for export last week, above trade estimates for 150,000 to 350,000 tonnes.
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