CHICAGO: US wheat futures rose on Friday, with the benchmark Chicago Board of Trade May soft red winter contract gaining 1.2 percent as investors covered short positions amid concerns about crop weather, traders said.
* Kansas City Board of Trade hard red winter wheat and MGEX spring wheat also rallied. The front-month KCBT contract hit its highest level in more than three weeks during the session.
* For the week, CBOT prices rose 4.7 percent, their biggest weekly gain in four weeks.
* CBOT May opened lower but prices turned higher as investors took advantage of the dip to cover their bearish bets. Prices briefly broke through their weekly high of $6.74-1/2 shortly before the open.
* CBOT said there were three deliveries against the expiring March contract. No deliveries against KCBT March and one delivery against MGEX March.
* Unseasonably warm and windy weather moved into the southwest corner of the US Plains hard red winter wheat region this week, bringing wheat out of dormancy and causing a rapid drydown of topsoils, said Andy Karst, meteorologist for World Weather Inc. Karst said the wheat will need rain soon but there is not any in the forecast for the next week.
* Early-emerging wheat is at risk for damage if temperatures turn colder again before the crop is fully mature.
* Russia's Agriculture Ministry expects 2012/13 wheat production to rise to 57 million tonnes from 56.2 million in 2011/12. Exports seen falling to 20 million tonnes from 21 million.
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