Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures closed higher on Thursday on technical buying and better-than-expected weekly US export sales data, traders said. CBOT September wheat hit its highest level in nearly two weeks at $5.14 but pared gains to settle at $5.07, up 5 cents on the day. USDA reported export sales of US wheat in the latest week at 838,500 tonnes for 2015/16, a marketing year high that topped trade expectations for 400,000 to 600,000 tonnes.
Also bullish, Saudi Arabia’s state wheat buying agency issued an international tender to purchase 495,000 tonnes of hard wheat. Algeria’s grain imports are likely to increase this year because the country’s harvest is expected to be poor, a source at the ministry of agriculture said. Rallies were limited by ample global wheat supplies, a factor reflected in news that French silo operator Socomac stopped taking wheat deliveries, citing a lack of available storage space. Fellow French silo operator Senalia suspended taking wheat deliveries earlier this week.
K.C. hard red winter wheat futures closed steady to fractionally higher. MGEX spring wheat futures closed higher but only after the December contract set a life-of-contract low. Showers this weekend and next week should slow the US spring wheat harvest.
