December Wheat finished down 25 1/2 at 751 1/2, 24 1/2 off the high and 7 3/4 up from the low. March Wheat closed down 26 at 774 3/4. This was 7 up from the low and 25 1/4 off the high.

The market opened sharply lower and remained under pressure throughout the day. Funds were sellers in wheat today although much less so than in corn. Wheat lost to corn on the day, but this did not extend losses made during the overnight session. Chicago, KC and Minneapolis wheat saw similar losses on the day in the December contracts. Spreaders were active in the wheat/corn spread today, trading on both sides of the spread. The USDA released its weekly export sales this morning, one day late due to the Labor Day holiday. Wheat sales came in at 436,600 tonnes. Cumulative wheat sales stand at 55.1% of the USDA forecast for the 08/09 season versus a 5 year average of 41.6%. Sales need to average 310,000 tonnes each week to reach the USDA forecast. Soft red sales were nearly 100,000 tonnes, outpacing hard red sales for the first time in several weeks. But the biggest sales were of hard red spring wheat which totaled 206,000 tonnes. Forecasts remain dry for most wheat growing areas of Argentina for the next 7 days. The government said today that dry weather is combining with frosts at night to cause further stress to this crop. In contrast, rains have fallen in recent days in northern New South Wales in Australia. That state produces about 30% of the Australian wheat crop. Elevators at the Gulf resumed load outs for export today after being closed by Hurricane Gustav earlier this week.

December Oats closed down 2 at 341. This was 5 up from the low and 7 off the high.