Related Keywords: Agriculture Email Print | December wheat was up 4 3/4 cents overnight. Outside market forces are considered positive. A dry weather forecast for the southern plains and for the southern and eastern portions of the Midwest this week could help support the market. New crop wheat pushed to within two cents of the August highs overnight as poor crop conditions and fears that the crop will do poorly over the winter has helped support. While current world and US stocks are considered ample, the poor start to the crop and the outlook for drier weather in the southern US during periods of La Nina has helped support the market along with outside market forces. A lower US dollar combined with tightening supply from Europe is expected to boost US export demand for the second half of the marketing year. December wheat closed slightly lower on the session Friday but gained 46 1/2 cents for the week. The rally Thursday and into the morning Friday took December wheat into the upper half of its range over the past 2 1/2 months amid general short covering and moderate buying by funds. July new crop wheat pushed to the highest level since August 5th. Traders indicate that dryness in the hard and soft red winter wheat belts has been the major supportive factor. Dryness in the Plains (the hard red winter wheat belt) is concentrated in western Kansas and Colorado. In the Midwest conditions are dry from SE Missouri through southern Illinois and into central Indiana. Some forecasts call for this dryness to continue over the next week in the southern Plains and in much of the Midwest. The Commitments of Traders reports as of October 26th showed a significant short-covering trend from fund traders in Chicago and a buying trend from fund traders for Kansas City wheat. Non-Commercial traders in Chicago were net short 10,551 contracts, a decrease of 5,733 contracts for the week. Non-Commercial and Nonreportable combined traders held a net short position of 27,510 contracts, a decrease of 8,769 contracts for the week. Commodity Index traders held a net long position of 201,110 contracts, up 3,241 contracts for the week. In Kansas City, trend-following fund traders (non-commercial without index funds) increased their net long position by more than 3,300 contracts to 67,176. The buying trend from fund traders at both locations is seen as a short-term positive force. Iraq is tendering to buy 100,000 tonnes of wheat. The Canadian Wheat Board raised their grain export target to 15.7-15.8 million tonnes from 15.1 million as their previous estimate.
Bron: CME