CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures climbed nearly 4 percent on Monday on short-covering and worries about weekend freeze damage in the US Plains winter wheat belt, following months of dry conditions in the region, traders said.
CBOT May soft red winter wheat settled up 18-1/2 cents at $4.90-3/4 per bushel after reaching $4.93-3/4, its highest since March 13.
K.C. May hard red winter wheat ended up 16 cents at $5.22-3/4 a bushel and MGEX May spring wheat rose 19-1/4 cents at $6.26-1/2.
Ahead of the US Department of Agriculture's weekly crop progress report due later on Monday, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the government to rate 31 percent of the winter wheat crop as good to excellent, down from 32 percent the previous week.
The USDA reported export inspections of US wheat in the latest week at 430,080 tonnes, above a range of trade expectations.
Commodity funds hold a net short position in CBOT wheat, leaving the market vulnerable to short-covering rallies.
Rallies capped by stiff competition for export business. Australian wheat was the lowest offered at $300.75 a tonne cost, insurance and freight (CIF) in Iraq's state purchasing tender for 50,000 tonnes of wheat, traders said on Sunday.
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