Wheat:
March wheat was up 11 cents late in the overnight session. Outside markets were somewhat negative with a higher US dollar. A very active tender wire and news that Iraq bought 350,000 tonnes of wheat with 200,000 from the US and 150,000 from Australia helped support the solid gains overnight. In addition, Tunisia ended up buying 100,000 tonnes of soft wheat on a weekend tender for 50,000, and this added to the positive tone. A mostly dry weather forecast for US and China growing areas for the next week helped to provide underlying support as well. China saw some very light snow that is not expected to help the soil moisture much. The wheat areas look dry and cold for the next week but not cold enough for any damage. Talk that Afghanistan may tender for 200,000 tonnes of wheat soon and a general idea that many North Africa and Middle East countries will try keep more food on hand has helped to support the recent strong gains. March wheat closed 4 1/4 cents higher on the session Friday and up 13 1/4 cents for the week. Speculative buying increased once news released that Egypt’s president was stepping down and protests calmed. After the early bounce, the market moved sharply lower on the day, led by continued long liquidation selling after Thursday’s weak close and concerns with potential instability in Egypt. The news that the shift in power is ongoing sparked strong buying in wheat on expectations that demand will be stronger if the country can avoid a violent transition of power. Egypt bought 170,000 tonnes of soft wheat for April shipment with 55,000 tonnes of the total coming from the US, 55,000 from Australia and 60,000 tonnes from Canada. The hard wheat tender was cancelled. Thailand bought 40,000 tonnes of wheat from Australia. The Commitments of Traders reports were considered mostly positive for wheat, as the buying trend from fund traders was seen as supportive. As of February 8th, non-commercial traders were net long 43,432 contracts, an increase of 6,493 contracts for the week. Commodity index traders held a net long position of 208,206 contracts, an increase of 2,979.