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CBOT wheat ends up on weather worry, USDA data

CHICAGO: Soft red winter wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed higher on Friday, supported by government stocks and plantings reports and by forecasts for freezing weather in the US Plains, traders said.

CBOT wheat closed 1 to 7-3/4 cents higher, with May up 7-1/2 at $2.63.

"This morning's lower plantings and lower stocks gave it somewhat of a boost," said Shawn McCambridge, analyst for Prudential Securities.

The US Department of Agriculture's 2000 prospective plantings report Friday put wheat seedings at 61.664 million acres, below the average trade estimate of 62.01 million.

US wheat stocks were listed at 1.412 billion bushels, below an average analyst estimate of 1.45 billion.

Also, "if you want to put something behind it (wheat rally) there is the colder weather moving in next week. If it were to get cold enough, the crop with its advanced development could be hurt, but it doesn't appear we'll get cold enough to do any damage," McCambridge said said.

Salomon Smith Barney, in its weather outlook, said temperatures could fall to 32 degrees Fahrenheit in the Great Plains and along the Texas and Oklahoma border. Temperatures will drop into the upper 20s across much of the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma, while portions of western Kansas will be in the lower 20s.

"These type of temperatures will likely cause some damage across the region," it added. Wheat futures were also boosted by strong gains in corn and soyabeans amid forecasts for dry weather most of next week in the Midwest, where soil moisture has been depleted by an unseasonably warm and dry winter.

Weather Services Corp. early Friday reported rain mostly across central areas of the US Great Plains with 0.05 to 0.50 inch and locally heavier amounts.

French wheat exports to Egypt were expected to rise as a result of a plan to blend French and US wheat to improve Egypt's flour production, al-Akhbar newspaper quoted a French grain executive as saying on Friday.

Georges-Pierre Malpel, director general of French grain growers' association Cerealiers de France, said 1 million tonnes of French wheat would be blended with US wheat to improve Egypt's flour production and cut prices.

French wheat exports to Egypt have been limited this year due to US dominance of the market, which many traders have attributed to the healthy export credit package the United States offers Egypt.

Funds bought 2,000 lots. O'Connor and Co. bought 1,000 May and 500 July, Refco Inc. bought 400 July, Tenco Inc. bought 300 May and E.D. & F. Man International sold 1,200 May.

CBOT wheat futures volume was estimated by the CBOT at 32,000 lots, above the 15,378 lots traded Thursday.

Wheat options volume totalled 8,000 lots. -Reuters