CHICAGO: US wheat futures rallied to multiyear highs on Thursday with concerns about tight global supplies and strong export demand fueling the gains. MGEX spring wheat hit its highest level since June 2011 on expectations that overseas buyers will soon begin looking to the United States to fill their orders for high-protein wheat.
Winter wheat futures were supported by concerns about the condition of the recently seeded crop as it heads toward dormancy and rainy weather in the eastern US Midwest that may have prevented farmers from seeding as much acreage as they planned. The most-active Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat contract hit its highest level since February 2013 while K.C. hard red winter wheat peaked it its highest since May 2014.
"Granted that it is early in the year but there is a lot of wheat that is not very good," said Mark Schultz, chief analyst at Northstar Commodity. Gains in wheat supported corn futures, which were on track for their third straight day of gains, with the most-active contract peaking at its highest since Aug. 17.
Soybeans were lower, pressured by weakness in crude oil futures that were extending a retreat from a seven-year peak earlier this week. At 11:27 a.m. CDT (1627 GMT), CBOT December soft red winter wheat was up 10-1/2 cents at $7.70-1/4 a bushel, K.C. December hard red winter wheat was up 4 cents at $7.86-3/4 a bushel and MGEX December spring wheat was 9-3/4 cents higher at $10.31-3/4 a bushel.
CBOT January soybeans were 5 cents lower at $12.44-3/4 a bushel and CBOT December corn was up 5 cents at $5.62-1/4 a bushel. Additional strength in corn was noted from harvest delays in Europe as well as parts of the US Midwest and China that have created short-term supply concerns despite expectations for large crops.
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