US wheat futures closed lower on Tuesday, posting new contract lows, amid ample world supplies of wheat and a downturn in crude oil and equities. Chicago Board of Trade September wheat ended down 9 cents at $4.85-1/4 per bushel, after falling to a new contract low of $4.83-1/2.
Kansas City Board of Trade hard red winter wheat futures benchmark September ended down 8-1/4 cents at $5.17, after sliding to a new low at $5.16-3/4, a more than 10 percent decline since August 3. Minneapolis Grain Exchange hard red spring wheat futures were down 6-1/4 cents at $5.68-3/4. The losses came even as CBOT soyabean futures rallied 5 percent, buoyed by Chinese demand.
Traders were awaiting fresh market data from the August 12 USDA production and supply/demand report. Analysts on average were expecting all US wheat production to total 2.152 billion bushels, with all winter wheat pegged at 1.532 billion bushels and all spring at 530 million. USDA said Monday that 8 percent of the new US spring wheat crop had been harvested, up from 3 percent a week earlier but behind the five-year average of 31 percent.
The spring wheat crop was rated 72 percent good to excellent, up from 71 percent a week earlier and the five-year average of 53 percent. US winter wheat was 91 percent harvested, USDA said. Tunisia's state grains agency bought 117,000 tonnes of optional-origin milling wheat in a tender for 92,000 tonnes that closed on Tuesday, European traders said.