CBOT wheat falls as trade war fears loom

CHICAGO, March 14 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat futures eased on Friday as trade war fears loomed, though expectations of lower wheat exports from Russia have kept a bottom on prices.

• CBOT May soft red winter wheat WK25 settled down 5-1/2 cents to $5.57 a bushel.

• K.C. May hard red winter wheat KWK25 ended down 1-1/2 cents at $5.86 a bushel, while Minneapolis May spring wheat MWEK25 settled down 2 cents at $6.01-3/4 a bushel.

• Grain markets faced pressure this week following the implementation of revised U.S. tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, which prompted the European Union and Canada to announce retaliatory duties on several U.S. goods.

• Russia's IKAR consultancy said on Thursday that it had cut its baseline 2024/25 wheat export forecast to around 41 million tons from 42.5 million tons.

• Low U.S. wheat prices and an ongoing export quota in major wheat producer Russia have boosted buying interest in U.S. wheat.

• Industry players have raised concerns about excessive dryness in the U.S. Plains, where roughly half the winter wheat crop is too dry, an analyst note said.