Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures closed lower Thursday on profit-taking as well as broad weakness in agricultural markets as traders questioned whether China will make the purchases from the United States promised in a trade deal between the two countries.
CBOT March soft red winter wheat settled down 8 cents at $5.65-1/4 per bushel.
K.C. March hard red winter wheat ended down 11-3/4 cents at $4.84-3/4 a bushel and MGEX March spring wheat fell 6 cents to finish at $5.50-1/4.
Profit-taking was noted, with the CBOT March contract retreating a day after hitting $5.78-3/4, its highest level in more than a year.
Traders shrugged off stronger-than-expected weekly US export sales. The US Department of Agriculture reported sales of US wheat in the week ended Jan. 9 at 710,200 tonnes (old and new crop years combined), topping trade expectations.
Consultancy Strategie Grains raised its forecast of European Union 2019/20 soft wheat exports to 30.5 million tonnes, up from 28.7 million in December.