CBOT wheat climbs to one-week high on Russia weather woes
CHICAGO, Sept 25 (Reuters) -Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures ended higher on Wednesday, rebounding from early declines as worries about crop prospects in top global exporter Russia as well as Ukraine appeared to spark a round of short-covering, analysts said.
CBOT December soft red winter wheat WZ24 settled up 11-1/4 cents at $5.89-1/4 per bushel after reaching $5.91-1/4, the contract's highest since Sept. 16.
K.C. December hard red winter wheat KWZ24 ended up 10 cents at $5.81 a bushel and MGEX December spring wheat MWEZ24 finished up 5-1/4 cents at $6.17 a bushel.
Commodity funds hold a net short position in CBOT wheat futures, leaving the market prone to short-covering rallies, particularly toward the end of the month and quarter.
Seeding of Russia's winter wheat crop is off to the slowest start in 11 years due to drought, the Sovecon consultancy said.
In Ukraine, farmers have sown 878,800 hectares (2.17 million acres) of winter wheat so far for the 2025 harvest, down from 1.024 million hectares (2.47 million acres) at this time a year ago, the agriculture ministry said. Most Ukrainian regions have not had rain for weeks.
Still, short-term exports of competitive Black Sea supplies hung over the futures market, capping rallies.
The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange raised its forecast of Argentina's 2024/25 wheat crop to 18.6 million tons, up nearly 3% from a May estimate.
Ahead of Thursday's weekly USDA export sales report, traders expect the government to report U.S. wheat sales in the week ended Sept. 19 at 200,000 to 600,000 metric tons.
Traders await the USDA's annual small grains summary and quarterly grain stocks reports, both due on Monday.
Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; editing by Jonathan Oatis
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