Wheat advances as dry weather in US Great Plains may reduce production

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SINGAPORE, Apr 7 (Bloomberg): Wheat rose in Chicago, heading for this year's biggest weekly climb, on speculation dry weather will curb production in the southern Great Plains of the U.S., the world's largest exporter. Parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, the largest winter- wheat-producing states in the U.S., are suffering from severe or extreme drought, according to the Drought Monitor website. Dry weather from western Kansas through West Texas will persist through April 12, Accuweather.com said. "We are becoming increasingly concerned about production potential in the U.S. hard-red winter wheat areas," Alex Bos, a London-based analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd., said in a report Thursday. "Conditions remain too dry now during the critical growth period as the crop emerges from winter dormancy." Wheat for July delivery gained 5.75 cents, or 0.7 per cent, to $8.24 a bushel at 11:03 a.m. London time on the Chicago Board of Trade. The grain is up 8.5 per cent this week, on course for the biggest advance since the week ended Dec. 3. Prices surged 69 per cent in the past year as Russia banned exports after the country's worst drought in a half-century. About 37 per cent of the U.S. crop was good or excellent as of April 3, down from 65 per cent a year earlier, the Department of Agriculture said this week. The reading was the lowest for the date since 2002, USDA data show. Milling wheat for May delivery traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris was unchanged at 250.50 euros ($357.71) a metric ton. Soybeans advanced for a second day in Chicago on speculation that smaller plantings in the U.S., the world's largest grower and exporter, may tighten global supply. The oilseed for May delivery gained 6 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to $13.825 a bushel.