Wheat rebounds from two-week low as dollar dips

Wheat futures rose in American trade away from late-February lows as the dollar index fell off early March highs, following earlier data from the US, the world's second largest wheat exporter. 

As of 08:58 GMT, wheat futures due on May 15 rose 0.31% to $4.9075 from the opening of $4.8925, while the dollar index shed 0.21% to 89.90 from the opening of 90.09. 

Earlier from the US, the Federal Budget report registered a deficit of $215.2 billion, slightly less than the $222.3B expected, and compared to the $49.2 billion surplus in January.

The US Department of Agriculture reported wheat sales in the week ending March 1 at 391.5 thousand tonnes, nearly double the 191.1 thousand in the previous week, and up 24% from the four-week average, with unknown buyers at the top of the list at 113.5 thousand tonnes. 

Then South Korea at 71.5 thousand tonnes, Japan at 66.1 thousand, Philippines and Colombia at 52K and 34K respectively, while Mexico canceled a 10.2K order, and finally, the USDA raised its wheat inventory expectations to 1.034 million bushels.  

Last month, Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, announced a March deadline to set up local prices a month before harvest, with the Egyptian agriculture ministry stating that wheat used in the bread subsidy program reached 9 million tonnes a year. 

The Egyptian ministry didn't specify whether it will link local prices with global ones, or will get back to the old system, where it subsidized farmers with a price higher than global ones, noting that Egypt bought about 3.6 million tonnes of local wheat last year.