Wheat Falls, Extends 2010 Decline as Importers Avoid U.S. Grain

Wheat prices fell in Chicago, capping the fourth straight weekly decline, as buyers opted for supplies that are cheaper than grain from the U.S., the world’s largest exporter.

Egypt said yesterday it bought 240,000 metric tons from Russia, France and Kazakhstan for as much as $174.90 a metric ton. Wheat at ports near New Orleans yesterday sold for $184.91 a ton, U.S. Department of Agriculture datashow. Wheat futures in Chicago have plunged 13 percent this year.

“We’re overpriced in the world market,” said Dewey Strickler, the president of Ag Watch Market Advisers in Nashville, Tennessee.

Wheat futures for March delivery fell 2.5 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $4.7325 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, down 0.2 percent for the week and 16 percent from a year ago.

France, the European Union’s largest grain grower and shipper, raised its soft-wheat planting estimate to 4.92 hectares (12.2 million acres), up from last month’s forecast of 4.89 million hectares, the agriculture ministry said today.

Wheat is the fourth-biggest U.S. crop, valued at $16.6 billion in 2008, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government data show.

By Tony C. Dreibus
Bloomberg