CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat futures dropped 1.2 percent on Monday, with prices closing just above their daily lows, as good weather raised expectations for a large US crop that could add to ample global supplies, traders said.
* Kansas City Board of Trade hard red winter wheat futures and MGEX spring wheat also fell on pressure from plentiful stockpiles.
* The benchmark CBOT May wheat contract hit its lowest level since March 30 during Monday's session.
* The US Plains received rain during the weekend, with Kansas and Oklahoma getting as much as 1 to 2 inches, adding to the already plentiful soil moisture in those key hard red winter wheat-growing areas, said John Dee, meteorologist for Global Weather Monitoring.
* The northern Plains spring wheat belt also received some much-needed rain, with more storms in the forecast for this week. Farmers in those spring wheat areas said late last week that their early planted crop needed moisture.
* Potentially crop-damaging freezing temperatures hit western Kansas on early Monday but experts said the wheat likely held up well.
* Analysts expect weekly wheat export inspections of between 15 million and 19 million bushels compared to 17.605 million a week ago. US Agriculture Department's inspections report has been delayed due to a fire at a USDA building in Washington.
* USDA's weekly crop progress and conditions reports also delayed. The reports will be released on Tuesday afternoon.
* A week ago, hard red winter wheat was rated 61 percent good to excellent compared to 36 percent a year earlier. Spring wheat planting was 21 percent complete compared to five-year average of 5 percent.
* Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released Friday showed that large speculators widened their net short position in wheat as prices have fallen due to ample world supplies. Their bearish bet on the commodity reached its largest since February 28, the weekly report showed.
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