Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures ended Friday on a positive note, as traders said they squared positions ahead of a tour through Kansas that will allow crop scouts to get a first-hand look at damage caused by a drought. Winter wheat was also supported by short-covering ahead of the tour, set to begin next week, traders said.
CBOT July soft red winter wheat settled up 9 cents at $4.98-1/2 per bushel, turning lower after reaching $4.99 earlier in the day. K.C. July hard red winter wheat ended up 9-1/2 cents at $5.30-1/2 a bushel, while MGEX July spring wheat ended up 4 cents to $6.08 per bushel. Background pressure was noted from rainfall in the southern US Plains winter wheat belt, traders said.
But traders said the spring wheat contracts were also pressured after a Statistics Canada report showed that Canadian farmers planned to seed a bigger-than-expected 25.259 million acres of wheat, up 12.8 percent from a year earlier and the most since 2013.