December wheat opened 7 1/4 cents higher on the day at 675 1/4 and established an early range of 672 3/4 to 686. The higher open in wheat came in contrast to soybeans and corn. Weaker opens in those markets were credited to bearish USDA Quarterly Stocks estimates. In the case of wheat, the USDA issued both a Quarterly Grain Stocks and a final Crop Production report this morning, and the reports were considered neutral. Stocks of all wheat as of September 1st were 1.856 billion bushels, which compares to 1.717 last year. This was lower than the lowest trade estimate and reflects a rapid rate of export sales and export inspections for wheat over the past three months and also a tendency to use more wheat for feed due to high corn prices. On a more negative note, the USDA raised its estimate of 2007/08 US All Wheat production to 2.499 billion bushels from 2.462 billion on the August S&D Report. This balances out the seeming bullishness of the stocks number. They lowered harvested acreage for winter wheat, but raised the average yield to 44.9 bushels per acre compared to 43.5 on last month's report.