Export premiums for hard red winter wheat at the US Gulf Coast were steady to firm on Monday, underpinned by moderate demand and concerns about weather-reduced output in some key production areas, traders said. Soft red winter wheat export premiums were flat amid dull demand. Dry weather in the southern US Plains wheat belt hurting the HRW wheat crop, supporting prices.
US wheat futures rallied about 4 percent on Monday despite weak outside markets. Some fresh global demand for milling wheat, but volumes were not very large and a firmer dollar may hurt US competitiveness in the tenders. Lebanon seeking 50,000 tonnes wheat in a tender closing on Tuesday and Bahrain seeking 30,000 tonnes in tender closing next week. US and Australian wheat likely to compete for business in a tender by Iraq which closes on Saturday.
Iraq plans to buy 3.25 million tonnes of wheat this year, compared with 1.9 million tonnes last year and an earlier plan to buy more than 2.8 million tonnes of wheat. Soyabean export premiums at the US Gulf were flat amid seasonally slow demand, with cheaper new-crop South American soyabeans undercutting demand for US shipments, traders said. Brazil's soyabean crop was 85 percent harvested, ahead of last year but behind the average pace, according to market analysts Celeres. Sales were ahead of average.