December wheat was 3 cents lower overnight. The dollar was mixed to higher overnight.

Wheat prices generally followed corn and soybeans yesterday. Wheat opened lower and then rallied throughout the day before surging into new highs for the day going into the close. Fund buying was said to support the market late along with a lack of sellers that triggered commission house buy stops. Weather is mostly a non-factor in wheat, although forecasts call for rains today and tomorrow in hard and soft red harvest areas. Export demand has picked up somewhat this week according to floor traders with the break in futures and in the export basis earlier this week making US soft red wheat more competitive against European and Black Sea origin wheat. A Russian business daily reported today that government sources close to Vladimir Putin are calling for an increase of up to 50% in Russian grain production over the next 5 years. The source indicated that this would require a substantial and immediate investment in infrastructure such as roads and storage facilities. Deliveries against the July contract today were 1,171 contracts.

Cooler than normal temperatures and rain are expected today and tomorrow in harvest areas for both hard and soft red wheat. Warmer to much warmer temperatures are expected to start moving into major growing and harvest areas on Saturday with heat building to substantially above normal next week in all wheat areas, except northern spring wheat areas. Periodic rains are expected in hard red wheat areas into next week with more substantial and general coverage expected in soft red harvest areas through next Wednesday. Japan bought 202,000 tonnes of wheat at its regular weekly tender. Iraq has issued a tender for 50,000 tonnes of optional origin milling wheat. Bangladesh is tendering for 100,000 tonnes of wheat for September delivery. Turkey will tender for 100,000 tonnes of durum wheat on July 2nd. Oman is in for 120,000 tonnes at the end of July.

Weekly export sales for wheat, released before the open, came in at 668,100 metric tonnes, all for the current marketing year.