Wheat rises for 1st time in 5 sessions

Talk about it

CHICAGO — Wheat futures rose for the first time in five sessions as warm, dry weather curbs prospects for crops set to go dormant in the United States, the world’s biggest exporter.

No rain is expected in the next 10 days for parts of Kansas, the biggest producer of winter wheat, and temperatures are expected to be warmer than normal, Telvent DTN senior meteorologist Bryce Anderson said in a report today.

Crops in the state that will stop growing until March or April are going into dormancy in extreme to exceptional drought conditions.

“It’s a bullish story if this drought doesn’t change,” Jeff McReynolds, the owner of McReynolds Marketing & Investments in Hays, Kansas, said by telephone.

“You don’t tend to get traders excited about dry weather in December, but if this situation doesn’t change by the second half of February, we’re going to be having some dust storms out here.”

Wheat futures for March delivery climbed 0.5 percent to $8.605 a bushel at 10:40 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, heading for the first gain since Nov. 28.

Wheat is the fourth-largest U.S. crop, valued at $14.4 billion in 2011, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government data show.

Tags: news, updates, agriculture, crops, wheat, business