Wheat Futures Prices Rally

Scant supplies in major Midwestern grain terminals spurred a rally Monday in wheat futures prices, which reached their highest levels since August on the Chicago Board of Trade.

“There’s nothing left in the pipeline,” said Bob Lekberg, an analyst with Shearson Lehman Bros. in Chicago. “Prices have been too low for too long.”

The Agriculture Department reported last week that only 314,000 bushels were on hand in Chicago, compared to 3.9 million bushels a year ago. In Toledo, Ohio, the government reported a supply of 2.2 million bushels, about 1 million bushels less than last year.

The rally was accentuated by some professional short covering, or the buying back of contracts sold earlier in hopes that wheat prices would decline, Lekberg said.

Soybeans were influenced by strength in the soybean oil pit, he said. “Heavy rain in some of the important soybean growing states of Brazil are contributing to harvest delays,” Lekberg said.

Rumors that the Soviet Union intends to make large soy oil purchases also sharply boosted the oil and bean prices, Lekberg said.