Rain in the Heartland Drives Wheat Prices to a Record Decline
- Relief in parched Kansas sends winter grain down by limit
- Hedge funds scurry to unwind bullish bets, analyst says
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The heaviest rain in months in parched Kansas, the biggest U.S. grower of winter wheat, sent the grain price tumbling by a record 5.9 percent on speculation that the downpour will revive crops.
Hard red winter wheat futures for May delivery tumbled as as 30 cents, the most allowed by the Chicago Board of Trade, before closing at $4.7025 a bushel. Futures breached the 50- and 200-day moving averages, triggering sales by hedge funds racing to unwind bullish bets, Darrell Holaday, the president of Advance Market Concepts in Wamego, Kansas, said in a telephone interview.