Soft red winter wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed mixed on Monday following a choppy session as the market tried to consolidate after last week's volatility, traders said. CBoT July wheat ended down 2-3/4 cents at $5.89-1/2 per bushel. Deferreds were up 2-1/2 cents to down 1, with most-active September down 1/2 at $6.04-1/2 and December up 2-1/4 at $6.14-3/4.
Funds were roughly even on the day, traders said. Volume was on the heavy side, estimated by the CBoT at 78,882 wheat futures and 6,872 options. Fundamental news was mixed. Seasonal pressure from the expanding US winter wheat harvest weighed on values. Kansas City Board of Trade wheat closed lower, with spot July down 2-3/4 cents at $5.68.
However, scattered rains fell in the southern US Plains over the weekend, stalling the harvest of hard red winter wheat and adding to quality worries. Forecasts called for more rain this week in the HRW belt, although expectations varied on the area of coverage. DTN Meteorlogix said most of the rain would be confined to the southern part of the state.
"I'm not sure Kansas is going to see a lot of problems with the harvest. The south-central and south-east might get some thundershowers on occasion but not enough to cause any undue concern," DTN Meteorlogix forecaster Joel Burgio said.
Nonetheless, uncertainty about US and world wheat supplies amid forecasts for tightening global stocks limited large-scale selling, CBoT traders said. Meanwhile, news that Egypt bought 120,000 tonnes of US soft red winter wheat over the weekend was supportive.
Also, the USDA said 16.0 million bushels of wheat were inspected for export last week, just above trade estimates for 13 million to 15 million. On inter-market spreads, Minneapolis Grain Exchange spring wheat futures continued to gain on Chicago and Kansas City values, reflecting commercial demand for high-protein spring wheat. MGE July closed unchanged at $6.00 per bushel.
Concerns about low protein in the US hard red winter wheat crop have supported old-crop spring wheat futures in Minneapolis since last week. After the markets closed, the US Department of Agriculture said the US winter wheat harvest was 22 percent complete, up from 11 percent the previous week but lagging the five-year average of 36 percent.
The winter wheat crop was rated 48 percent good to excellent, down from 50 percent the previous week. US spring wheat ratings also declined, with 79 percent of that crop rated good to excellent, down from 85 percent a week earlier.
Statistics Canada was scheduled to release updated planting figures on Tuesday. The average trade estimate for Canadian all-wheat seedings was 23.4 million acres, down from Statscan's March 31 estimate of 23.8 million.
In other news, Kazakhstan is prepared to fill gaps in grain supply left by severe drought in Ukraine and Russia, an industry official said. The supplement to Friday's CFTC commitments report showed large speculators (excluding index funds) widened their net long position in CBoT wheat in the week ended June 19 to 19,612 contracts, up roughly 6,500 lots.