December Wheat finished up 8 at 774 3/4, 6 1/4 off the high and 16 1/2 up from the low. March Wheat closed up 7 3/4 at 798 1/2. This was 15 1/2 up from the low and 5 1/2 off the high.

The wheat market opened marginally higher and traded on the plus side for most of the day before finishing mixed. Wheat posted moderate losses versus corn today after gaining sharply on corn to start the week. Funds were buyers of about 1000 contracts on the day and the Chicago-KC wheat spreads finished near unchanged. Traders at the Gulf report good demand from the Western Hemisphere for US wheat in addition to ongoing demand from North Africa and the Middle East. Russia has raised its total grain forecast for 2008/09 to 93.2 million tons. This is up 4.6 million tonnes from August. The increase is due to good weather conditions in July and August and excellent yields of winter grains, especially winter wheat. Wheat production is forecast at 56.2 million tonnes. Prices of feed quality wheat continue to fall rapidly. The price of milling wheat has stabilized due to lower than expected production. Australia saw beneficial rains in northern New South Wales in recent days although private forecasters are generally issuing crop numbers that are below those of the USDA. All three major wheat-growing provinces in Argentina remain dry with little or no rain forecast there over the next 7 days.

December Oats closed down 8 at 352. This was 5 up from the low and 22 off the high.