Weather pressures wheat futures

Market Line March 25, 2009 Wheat futures closed lower Tuesday. Continued good rains forecast for the last dry areas of the Southern Plains pressured contracts. There are a number of wheat tenders in the works but traders doubt the U.S. will get much if any of the business. Syria purchased Russian wheat. Louise Gartner for the Linn Group at the Chicago Board of Trade says news out of Russia yesterday doesn’t help either. Gartner: “That they were going to increase the amount of wheat into the export market. Grains in general in fact that they said they were going to start liquidating government stocks onto the export market. One has to wonder what they would call what they have been doing over the last few months. They have certainly been extremely aggressive in this export market sharply undercutting any other offers out there and scooping up some sales in the process.” On Tuesday Chicago May wheat was down 14 ¼ cents at 5-35. May corn down 1 ¾ at 3-93 ¾. Portland soft white wheat any protein steady to a nickel higher at mostly 5-55. Maximum 10.5 percent protein 5-60. August new crop 5-20 to 5-60. Club wheat 7-35. Maximum 10.5 percent club wheat 7-40. HRW 11.5 % protein 16-18 cents lower at 6-28. DNS 14% protein ten to 15 cents lower at 7-89. No Portland barley bids. Live cattle futures were lower Tuesday on profit taking and bear spreading. Feeders were higher helped by a better cash market and lower corn. Packers are estimated to be losing about 46 dollars a head. April live cattle down 50 cents at 85-45. April feeders up 67 at 95-12. April Class III milk unchanged at 11-25. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Market Line on the Northwest Ag Information Network. Now this.