Wheat edges higher

Sydney : US wheat futures edged higher on Tuesday as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said production in a key growing region was hit by adverse weather last week.

The most active wheat futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade were up 0.4 percent at $4.92-1/2 a bushel by 0426 GMT, having closed up 0.3 percent on Monday.

Analysts said wheat was drawing support from confirmation of further damage to crops across a major producing region.

“Winter kill due to a lack of snow cover and a lack of moisture have damaged crops again. This is supportive to prices,” said Angus Thornton, analyst at Profarmer.

The USDA after the close of trading on Monday rated 12 percent of the Kansas winter wheat crop in good to excellent condition, down from 13 percent a week earlier. It rated 53 percent of the Kansas crop as poor to very poor, up from 50 percent the previous week