Future Wheat Prices Advance as Slow Exporter from US

Future wheat prices advance as wet weather in the Great Plains will slow the harvest in the U.S., the world?s leading exporter, about 44 percent of the winter crop was harvested as of June 26, ahead of the five-year average of 37 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency will issue an update later today.

Wheat futures for September delivery rose 23.25 cents, or 3.8 percent, to settle at $6.355 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. Last week, the price tumbled 7.4 percent, the fifth straight decline, amid signs of higher global production.

Parts of Kansas, the biggest U.S. winter-wheat growing state, may have thunderstorms with as much as 1.5 inches of rain (3.8 centimeters) for two days starting tomorrow, said Joel Widenor, the director of agricultural services at the Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Maryland. Some areas in Nebraska may get as much as 4 inches of rain in the period, he said.

?You?re getting quite a storm system over northern Kansas and southern Nebraska,? said Louise Gartner, the owner of Spectrum Commodities in Beavercreek, Ohio. ?It?s going to delay the harvest.?