The following is from Bloomberg:
By Whitney McFerron
Wheat futures fell for a fourth straight day on speculation that rain will improve the prospects of dry fields in Kansas, the biggest producer of U.S. winter varieties.
Kansas may get from 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) to 3 inches of rain during the next week, with the heaviest amounts falling in northern areas, according to a forecast by Martell Crop Projections. The precipitation may “prevent drought from expanding” in northern and eastern areas of the Great Plains, while southern crops will remain dry, according to a T-Storm Weather report.
“You’ve got rain in the forecast for the hard red winter- wheat region, so obviously that’s very bearish,” said Jeff McReynolds, the owner of McReynolds Marketing and Investments in Hays, Kansas. “Some of that wheat’s already gone though, so it’s too late, or it’ll be planted to something else.”
Wheat futures for July delivery fell 11.75 cents, or 1.5 percent, to settle at $7.7625 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices have dropped 6.7 percent this week. Futures have still climbed 59 percent in the past year as severe drought spurred Russia to ban exports, while floods eroded supplies from Canada and Australia.
Wheat is the fourth-biggest U.S. crop, valued at $13 billion in 2010, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government data show.
To contact the reporter on this story: Whitney McFerron in Chicago at wmcferron1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net.
Source: Bloomberg
Posted by Haylie Shipp
