12/19/07 Spot Portland soft white near $13; Alberta BSE case

Market Line December 19, 2007 Once again a lack of news was cited Tuesday for lower wheat futures. A rally in the U.S. dollar to a two-month high did not help. New crop contracts did gain on old crop futures. Despite the lower futures Portland cash soft white wheat continued to climb higher on good export demand, just short of $13 for immediate delivery. Russian has been selling wheat internally in an effort to curb inflation there and China says it has pulled export subsidization to control food inflation and to ensure sufficient domestic supplies. On Tuesday Chicago March wheat was down 14 cents at 9-52. July new crop at Chicago down a penny at 7-69 ½. March corn down 6 ¾ at 4-32. Portland cash soft white wheat and club wheat 35-40 cents higher mostly 12-93. HRW 11.5 percent protein for January down 14 cents at 10-87. Dark northern spring wheat 14% protein for January 11-12 cents higher at 11-99. Barley at the coast 256 dollars a ton. Canadian officials have reported another case of BSE in a 13 year-old cow in Alberta but say it won't impact Canada's BSE risk status. Cattle futures were higher Tuesday. Better boxed beef prices are cited as a factor. Feb live cattle up 105 at 96-67. Jan feeders up 147 at 105-15. Jan Class III milk down 39 cents at 17-63. USDA reported milk production in the 23 major producing states in November was up 3.8 percent from a year ago. I'm Bob Hoff and that's Market Line on the Northwest Ag Information Network. Now this.