Australian Wheat Futures Close A$15 Lower

Australian wheat futures crashed lower Thursday, with benchmark ASX January down A$15/tonne to A$340/tonne on a combination of a weaker CBOT market the last two sessions, a weaker USD and an improved weather outlook down under.

Storms are again spreading throughout southeast QLD and northern NSW, bringing a few heavy showers.

So far most of the rainfall is falling over the NSW northern rivers region. Ballina has picked up just over 23mm in an hour. The forecast is for the heaviest falls to be received about this area.

Next week parts of western Queensland will get their best rain in two-to-six months forecasters say. If the rains come then 25mm will be enough to get the crop through to maturity said one trader, with any additional rains between now and harvest simply adding to yield potential.

Meanwhile recent rain in Western Australia targeted the wheat belt with 10 to 25 millimetres in the last two days.

Since the rain started early Wednesday morning Dalwallinu has been one of the wettest in the state. The Central Wheat Belt town picked up 25mm, their best rain since last year and highest August rain in five years. This brings the yearly total to 287mm, just short of the January-to-August average of 294mm.

For early planted wheat in northern WA these rains should also be sufficient to see the crop through to harvest analysts say.