Mumbai, 19 Apr (Commoditiescontrol): Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat futures closed higher on Thursday as K.C. wheat futures rose on concerns about dry weather stressing crops in portions of the U.S. Plains, traders said.
Rallies were capped by sluggish export demand for U.S. wheat given ample supplies of grain originating from the Black Sea region.
Most-active CBOT July soft red winter wheat settled up 3/4 cent at $5.53 per bushel. K.C. July hard red winter wheat ended up 6-1/4 cents at $5.75-1/4 per bushel, bouncing after falling to a two-week low. MGEX July spring wheat rose 3-3/4 cents to finish at $6.43 per bushel.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that 24% of the U.S. winter wheat crop was located in a drought area as of April 16, up from 18% a week earlier.
"Western Kansas has not seen precipitation in over two weeks," the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report, prepared by a consortium of climatologists, said. Kansas is the top U.S. producer of winter wheat.
The USDA's weekly export sales report showed net sales reductions of 93,600 metric tons of U.S. old-crop wheat in the week to April 11, while net new-crop wheat sales totaled 222,000 tons, in line with trade expectations.EXP/WHE
The International Grains Council (IGC) trimmed its 2024/25 world wheat crop outlook by 1 million tons to 798 million tons, although the projection was still above the prior season's 789 million tons.
(By Commoditiescontrol Bureau: 09820130172)