September wheat was down 1 cent late in the overnight session. Outside market factors are mostly weak with a strong US dollar and a break in the stock market, but gold is strong, providing some offset. september wheat has been consolidating mostly in a range of 670-720 since mid-July and has closed near the low end of this range in the past few sessions. Traders believe that the USDA report in August is likely to show a jump in world production, and much of the increase is expected to come from Russia, Ukraine and Europe, all aggressive export competitors with the US. While Black Sea wheat continues to trade at a discount to US and other key producers, US wheat is still cheap against US corn, and this is helping to boost feed usage. Recent rains have raised concerns for the German wheat quality. The weekly Crop Progress Report showed that 70% of the US spring wheat crop was rated good/excellent as of Sunday, compared to 74% last week and 82% last year. The 10 year average for this time of year is 60%. The winter wheat harvest has reached 81% complete, compared to 75% last week and 83% last year. The 10 year average for this time of year is 88%. September wheat was trading lower on the session into the mid-day yesterday, but late strength in corn helped pull the market slightly higher into the close. A weaker US dollar and higher trade for the stock market and other commodity markets supported the market early, but the market lost a good part of the early gains due to a turn down in stocks and a move to higher on the day for the US dollar. European wheat was higher early, and the market also found support from a jump in corn values. Iran is expected to be self sufficient in wheat production this season, and there is even talk of exports of up to 2 million tonnes. Argentina received good rains in wheat areas recently to relieve dryness stress for the new crop, but some areas remain dry. Weekly export inspections, released during the session yesterday, came in at 16.15 million bushels, which was well below trade expectations. This compares to 22.09 million necessary each week to reach the USDA projection. New crop wheat is gaining on the old crop, as there are some increased concerns for next year if the southern plains drought does not dissipate in the next 4-6 weeks. That drought looks to intensify in the next ten days.