Chicago wheat futures decline amid easing crop concerns

CHICAGO, May 22 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures fell on Thursday as a short-covering rally that took prices to a one-month peak petered out, with traders seeing limited threats to Northern Hemisphere crops despite adverse weather concerns, analysts said.

• CBOT July soft red winter wheat WN25 settled down 4-3/4 cents at $5.44-1/2 a bushel.

• K.C. July hard red winter wheat KWN25 ended down 1/2 a cent at $5.40 a bushel, though back-end month contracts ended the day higher.

• Minneapolis July spring wheat MWEN25 settled down 4 cents at $6.00-1/4 a bushel.

• Ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend in the U.S., traders focused on adjusting their positions and feeling a little hesitant about the size of this summer's domestic wheat harvest, said Don Roose, president of Iowa-based U.S. Commodities.

• Traders are now questioning whether Chinese or Russian wheat crops have suffered significant damage, while the U.S. remains on track for a large harvest despite disease risks in some areas, analysts said.

• Better-than-expected weekly U.S. wheat export news also helped keep a floor under futures prices, market analysts said.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture said net U.S. wheat export sales for shipment in the upcoming 2025/2026 marketing year totaled 882,200 metric tons in the week ended May 15, above trade estimates.

• The agency also reported net old-crop sales cancellations of 13,300 metric tons. EXP/WHE