Wheat At $5.25 On Concerns That Rains In Southern Plains Will Not Materially Help Crops - Bloomberg

[hatrack]

March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat rebounded from the biggest decline in seven weeks on speculation that a persistent drought will damage crops in parts of the U.S., the world’s largest exporter of the grain. As much as 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain is expected in parts of central Texas and southern Oklahoma today, missing western wheat-growing areas and all of Kansas, National Weather Service data show. Little or no rain has fallen in parts of the southern Great Plains in the past month, the agency’s data show

“There are concerns about dry conditions,” said Dan Kuechenmeister, the manager of the commodities department at RBC Dain Rauscher in Minneapolis. “There are parts of Texas and Oklahoma that are still very dry.”

Wheat futures for May delivery rose 16.75 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $5.25 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. Yesterday, the price tumbled 4.6 percent, the most since Jan. 20. The grain still has dropped 59 percent in the past year on increased global production and dwindling demand.

A late-winter freeze also may hurt crops. Plants are emerging from dormancy earlier than normal after temperatures reached the 80s and 90s Fahrenheit (26 degrees to 32 degrees Celsius) in parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas last week. In April 2007, temperatures dropped below freezing for several hours, killing entire fields of wheat in the southern Plains.

EDIT

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601012&sid=awBmbr0fvT9c

[aquart]

1. I saw a map that puts our wheat belt in CANADA by 2050.

Of course, that was before they realized how fast climate change was accelerating.

[tridim]

2. So is that why a box of Wheat Thins now costs $4.79?

Last year I could buy three boxes for $5.00 on sale.

[TheWraith]

3. Uh huh. I bet commodities speculation has NOTHING to do with it.

:sarcasm:

[MessiahRp]

4. I've seen reports that showed that a massive amount of wheat production

is being lost by farmers switching to Corn for Ethanol purposes and because subsidies make that more profitable. Also they mention how much easier it is to grow corn than wheat. Except that last year there was a major grain shortage issue and it will only get worse. We need to eliminate ethanol subsidies all together since we now know that Ethanol takes more fuel to produce than it's worth and move subsidies back to Wheat and growing crops that can feed people.

Rp

[kestrel91316]

5. Time to buy another 10 lb bag of flour.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. For speculators, no rains on plains lead mainly to gains. nt