March Wheat finished down 15 at 749 3/4, 17 off the high and 3 3/4 up from the low. July Wheat closed down 11 1/4 at 787 1/2. This was 4 up from the low and 14 1/2 off the high. March wheat traded at narrowly mixed levels overnight and then fell steadily throughout the day session. Traders said that spreaders were active sellers in wheat today versus corn, and other wheat markets, with funds also weighing in on the sell side. A rally in the dollar prior to the day’s open in wheat was said to have generated some early selling, but wheat failed to benefit from a subsequent retreat in the dollar into late morning. Traders also noted that drier weather this week in Australia has sent buyers to the sidelines, and an upgrade in the Argentine crop outlook was also viewed as negative. The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange pegged the wheat crop there at 13.5 million tonnes, up 4% from their previous estimate. Brazil’s wheat association, Abitrigo, expects the country to import 5.5 to 6.0 million tonnes of wheat in 2011, about the same as this year. The EU cleared 353,000 tonnes of wheat export licenses this week. This week’s export sales for wheat were better than expected at 899,300 tonnes for the current marketing year and 74,000 for next year for a total of 973,300. However, soft red winter wheat sales were modest at 47,300 tonnes for old crop and 45,000 tonnes for new crop. As of December 9th, cumulative wheat sales stand at 72.4% of the USDA forecast for 2010/2011 exactly in line with the 5-year average of 72.4%. Sales need to average 378,000 tonnes each week to reach the USDA forecast. In addition to the weekly sales, the USDA announced a sale of 150,000 tonnes of US hard red winter wheat to Jordan. This was for delivery in the 2010/11 marketing year and this appears to confirm a sale that was reported unofficially by traders in Europe yesterday. Traders also reported that Algeria bought about 350,000 tonnes of optional origin milling wheat. March Oats closed up 2 at 385 1/2. This was 3 up from the low and 2 off the high.

Bron: CME