March wheat was up 9 1/2 cents late in the overnight session. Outside markets were quiet with a positive tilt. The market continues to find support from dry forecasts for China’s wheat areas and a lack of rain in the southern and western US plains. There is talk that some fields in Texas and Oklahoma may be torn up and replanted with other crops in the spring. China’s Ministry of Agriculture indicated on Thursday that the drought in their northern wheat areas is likely to last. They reiterated that the wheat crop will need more water soon as the weather gets warmer. These officials indicated that while the overall size of the drought-affected land has shrunk, the situation is still grim. There are also some concerns about cold weather in the Black Sea and Eastern European regions. News that Egypt bought 180,000 tonnes of wheat with 120,000 of the total from the US helped to provide some early support yesterday. Private exporters also reported that they sold 100,000 tonnes of US wheat to Iraq. Brazil sold 150,000 tonnes of milling wheat to Bangladesh. Open interest was down 13,120 contracts on the sharp break Tuesday, and many traders think this was long liquidation selling. Traders see weekly export sales, to be released before the opening today, coming in near 500,000 tonnes, down from 507,300 tonnes last week.

Bron: CME