March wheat opened 22 1/4 cents lower on the day at 539 and established an early range of 522 to 546. Wheat opened lower than expected this morning on active selling by funds and locals. Spreaders were also active sellers in wheat and buyers in corn today. Wheat lost sharply to corn in the early going and Chicago wheat lost marginally to KC. A Chinese official is being quoted by the Xinhua News Agency today as saying that this year's overall grain production will total 525 million tonnes compared to 510 million last year. This is above trade expectations. Traders say that this news is weighing on grain prices in Chicago and Europe today. The week's export inspections for wheat were 19.808 million bushels. Cumulative inspections stand at 61.2% of the projected total compared to a 5-year average of 50.4%. Inspections need to average 14.665 million bushels each week to reach the USDA projection. Recent heavy rains in parts of the eastern Australian wheat belt have resulted in a downgrading of some 1.0 million tonnes of wheat from milling quality to feed quality.