CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures closed lower on Thursday after a back-and-forth session, pressured by larger-than-expected domestic and global wheat ending stocks forecasts from the US Department of Agriculture, traders said.
CBOT December soft red winter wheat settled down 2-3/4 cents at $4.30-1/2 per bushel after dipping to $4.28, its lowest since Aug. 30. Several back months hit contract lows.
K.C. December hard red winter wheat ended down 2 cents at $4.26-1/4 a bushel and MGEX December spring wheat fell 7-3/4 cents at $6.11-1/4.
CBOT wheat turned higher at times, supported by strength in soybean and corn futures. But bearish data in the USDA's monthly supply/demand reports pressured values.
The USDA raised its forecast of global 2017/18 wheat ending stocks to 268.13 million tonnes, up from 263.14 million in September and above even the highest in a Reuters poll of trade estimates.
The USDA also upped its forecast of US 2017/18 wheat ending stocks to 960 million bushels, from 933 million in September. The figure was above the average estimate in a Reuters poll of 946 million.
France-based Strategie Grains projected seedings of soft wheat in the European Union would rise 0.5 percent in 2018 compared with this year.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.