05/19/05 Weather impacts wheat futures again

Its weather related. July wheat futures closed 1 ¾ to five cents per bushel higher yesterday compared to Tuesday's close. Bill Mendenhall at AgriSource says some weather problems in the Midwest are popping up. MENDENHALL "We went from I think 59 percent down to 55 percent good to excellent on the crop rating in the Midwest for the hard red winter wheat belt and that's kind of starting to stir some people up. There's a couple of other things besides the US. Australia needs rain and China has got a little bit of dryness. So it's all weather." On Wednesday Chicago July wheat gained .05 to 3.15. July corn was up 3 ¼ to 2.10 ¾. Portland cash white 3.88 August new crop 3.65 Club White 3.93 Pacific Northwest HRW 11.5 percent protein 4.03 Dark Northern Spring 14 percent protein 4.95 Export barley $102 /ton At auction in Klamath Falls 400-500 pound steers 134-135.50, 700-800 steers 105-112. Beef futures closes sharply lower with June and August live catching most of the heat. June live cattle down one dollar to 86.07. August feeders down .85 to 112.32. June Class III milk at Chicago up .08 to 14.16