US wheat futures fell on Thursday as traders locked in profits from a recent rally on ideas that the market had peaked with the benchmark Chicago Board of Trade contract hovering around a five-month high. CBOT March soft red winter wheat contract settled down 19-1/4 cents at $7.89 per bushel. Funds sold an estimated net 1,000 CBOT wheat contracts.
At the Kansas City Board of Trade, March hard red winter wheat ended down 14-3/4 cents at $8.58-1/2 a bushel. MGEX March spring wheat fell 15-1/4 cents to $8.83-3/4 a bushel. MGEX and KCBT contracts were setting back from recent strength that pushed prices to their highest level in more than two years amid strong world demand for high-protein wheat.
USDA said export sales of US wheat last week totalled 464,700 tonnes, above estimates for 350,000 to 450,000 tonnes. Algeria bought 350,000 tonnes of milling wheat at around $353 a tonne for shipment in March - European traders. Informa left its estimate of Australia's 2010/11 wheat crop unchanged at 26 million tonnes but said as much as 10 million tonnes could be downgraded - trade sources. Mostly favourable conditions for wheat harvest in southern Australia while showers in the north may impact remaining harvest and also increase chances of flooding.