December Wheat finished down 13 at 806 3/4, 17 1/4 off the high and 8 3/4 up from the low. September Wheat closed down 13 1/2 at 783 1/4. This was 8 1/4 up from the low and 17 3/4 off the high.

Wheat opened higher and, after an early dip, remained on the plus side in a narrow range for most of the day. Funds were small buyers in wheat while selling modestly in other grain markets. As a result, wheat gained on both corn and soybeans today with traders reporting fairly active trade in those intra-commodity spreads. KC and Minneapolis wheat were also higher. Sen. Harkin of Iowa came out against a penalty-free release of acres from the CRP today. Harkin is chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. The eastern spring wheat growing areas received 1 inch overnight with scattered coverage. More rain is forecast next week. The western spring wheat belt remained dry and forecasts call for hot weather to continue with little in the way of precipitation. Export sales were very strong again in wheat this week with net sales at 610,000 tonnes. Sales of 352,000 metric tonnes are needed each week for the remainder of the year to reach the USDA forecast. Total sales to date stand at 41.2% of the projected total compared to a 5-year average of 27.4%. Sales of soft red wheat were heavy at 225,900 tonnes versus 206,100 tonnes for hard red wheat. Major destinations were Mexico for hard red wheat and Egypt, followed by Mexico again, for soft red wheat.

September Oats closed down 2 at 385. This was 3 up from the low and 5 off the high.