CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures closed below $5 a bushel on Wednesday, the first time in nearly six weeks, amid technical selling and concern about dwindling US export demand, traders said.
Traders said wheat contracts were also pressured by the US dollar, which rose more than 1/2-percent against a basket of currencies on Wednesday, reaching its highest point since August.
CBOT December soft red winter wheat closed down 9-1/2 cents at $4.99-1/2 a bushel on Wednesday.
K.C. December hard red winter wheat settled down 10-1/2 cents at $4.97 a bushel and MGEX December spring wheat closed the day down 6-1/2 cents at $5.78-1/2 a bushel.
Russia's agriculture ministry this week raised its forecast for the country's 2018 grain crop by 3 million tonnes to 109 million tonnes.
Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev and traders of Russian grain will discuss exports at a routine meeting on Oct. 26, three sources informed about the meeting told Reuters on Wednesday.
"With Russia saying their crop is better than expected, and the dollar being up, it certainly doesn't help anyone's thoughts that we're going to export more of our crop any time soon," said Mark Gold of Top Third Ag Marketing.
Analysts polled ahead of Thursday's weekly USDA export sales report expect net wheat sales of 200,000 to 500,000 tonnes last week, compared with 475,998 tonnes in sales the previous week.
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