March wheat was 3/4 of a cent lower overnight. The dollar was modestly lower after yesterday’s big gains. Wheat saw sluggish trade in a narrow range overnight despite some selling in the dollar this morning. Traders indicate that improved weather in eastern Australia has allowed harvest to jump back to near a normal pace in a number of areas with further drying expected that will continue to advance harvest progress in the east. Harvesting in Western Australia is nearing completion following a long stretch of dry weather in that region. Traders and analysts are still assessing the impact that expected quality downgrades in eastern Australia will have on the world market for higher quality wheat, but for now this is expected to drive more demand to US hard red winter and hard red spring wheat varieties. Egypt bought 230,000 tonnes of wheat yesterday. Of this total, 120,000 was soft wheat from France, and the remaining 110,000 tonnes was US hard red winter wheat. Jordan was a buyer of 150,000 tonnes of US hard red winter yesterday. Japan bought 71,563 tonnes of wheat from Australia on its regular weekly tender. Colder weather in Europe is pushing the last of the wheat crop there into dormancy. The outlook is considered favorable due to a substantial snow cover in key producing areas. Increasing snow cover in the US soft red winter wheat belt in the Midwest is also considered favorable with more snow hitting parts of the eastern Midwest and eastern mid south into this morning. However, snow cover is not deep in all areas of the soft red belt and conditions remain dry in the US hard red winter wheat belt in the central, southern and SW Plains. The USDA will release its weekly Export Sales report this morning with traders expecting a combined total of up to 650,000 tonnes. Sales need to average 397,700 tonnes each week to reach the USDA’s current export projection.

Bron: CME