Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell Tuesday on technical selling, including profit-taking after the spot December contract set a 2-1/2-week high, traders said. Traders attributed wheat’s climb in the previous three sessions in part to funds covering short positions. Global wheat fundamentals remain bearish, with record-large global production fuelling strong competition for export business. The US Department of Agriculture last week forecast 2015/16 world wheat ending stocks at 226.6 million tonnes, which would be the most in history.
Favourable weather for winter wheat planting in the southern US Plains added pressure. The USDA late Monday said the US winter wheat crop was 9 percent seeded, in line with the five-year average. The USDA said the spring wheat crop was 97 percent harvested, ahead of the five-year average of 86 percent. Russian regional officials are pressuring farmers to report more grain crop than they actually harvest this year, the head of a farmers’ lobby.
