13/07/07--US Wheat Review: Ends Mostly Lower, Looking At Weather

CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--A lack of fresh news and conflicting market sentiments
about forecasts for hot, dry weather drove U.S. wheat futures mostly lower
Friday, analysts said.

Chicago Board of Trade September wheat closed down 3/4 cent at $6.20 3/4, up
10 3/4 cents on the week. CBOT December wheat slipped 1 1/2 cents to $6.35 1/4,
up 12 3/4 cents on the week.

Kansas City Board of Trade September wheat finished the day session 2 cents
lower at $6.09, up 6 1/2 cents on the week. KCBT December wheat ended down 1/2
cent at $6.27 1/4, up 10 1/4 cents on the week.

Minneapolis Grain Exchange September wheat ended down 2 cents at $6.30, up 10
3/4 cents on the week. MGE December wheat finished down 3/4 cent at $6.39 1/4,
up 11 1/4 cents on the week.

Bulls didn't have many new inputs to feed on, so prices took a bit of a
"breather" before the weekend, CBOT floor traders said. In the absence of fresh
news, market participants focused on the weather and forecasts for sweltering
temperatures next week, they said.

Weather models call for a "major heat wave" to begin across the central U.S.,
T-Storm Weather said. The extent of the "heat dome" would extend from southern
Canada into the Gulf of Mexico, the firm said.

If the models' predictions come true, "this would be one of the larger and
more expansive heat waves in many years," T-Storm said. "Rain chances would be
near non-existent if the model is correct for most of the Corn Belt and
Central/Northern Plains."

Trading was choppy as the forecasts were seen as bearish for winter wheat and
potentially bullish for spring wheat, said Tim Hannagan, an analyst for Alaron
in Chicago.

"We're basically seeing a tug of war between weather harming the spring
wheat, but the weather also helping encourage the end of the winter wheat
harvest," Hannagan said.

Paris and London wheat futures traded on Liffe finished narrowly mixed Friday
as harvest nearby weather improved. Hot, dry and windy weather forecast for the
next three days is expected to kickstart some wheat cutting in France and
Germany after rain delays.

In other news, drought continues to build in Argentine wheat areas, hindering
germination of newly seeded plants, Cropcast said. The country's primary
growing areas have seen "extremely dry" conditions during the past 60 days,
with many spots picking up less than 20% of normal rainfall during that period,
according to the private weather firm. Most areas are forecast to pick up well
below 0.5 inch during the next 10 days.



Kansas City Board of Trade



Volume was relatively low at the KCBT, a floor trader said. It looked like
"people were just mailing it in for the week," he said.

Floor chatter indicated Iraq had tendered for hard wheat, although the
markets didn't seem to react much to the speculation.

"Iraq is in here checking prices every day" if you follow chatter, a trader
said. "The markets don't care about Iraq."



Minneapolis Grain Exchange



MGE September and December wheat stumbled, but deferred-month contracts rose
in low-volume trading, a floor trader said.

Northern Plains and Canadian Prairie spring wheat areas will have a hot and
dry pattern from the western Dakotas westward during at least the next seven to
10 days, Meteorlogix said. The heat wave will add stress to the crops, the
weather firm said.