CBOT wheat climbs more than 4% on short-covering

CHICAGO, June 18 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures jumped more than 4% on Wednesday as weather woes in parts of the United States and Europe, coupled with signs of fresh global export business, prompted speculators to cover short positions ahead of a U.S. holiday on Thursday, traders said

• Commodity funds hold a large net short position in CBOT wheat futures, leaving the market vulnerable to short-covering rallies.

• CBOT July soft red winter wheat WN25 settled up 25-1/4 cents, or 4.6%, at $5.74-1/4 per bushel.

• K.C. July hard red winter wheat KWN25 ended up 23-1/2 cents, or 4.3%, at $5.71-1/4 a bushel and Minneapolis July spring wheat MWEN25 rose 15-1/2 cents, or 2.5%, to finish at $6.46-1/4 a bushel.

• The U.S. winter wheat harvest is off to a slow start in Oklahoma and Kansas due to wet conditions. US/WHE

• Algeria's state grains agency OAIC bought an estimated 550,000 to 570,000 metric tons of milling wheat in an international tender that closed on Tuesday, European traders said.

• European wheat prices rose on higher U.S. markets, dry weather in Russia and an increase in French wheat export projections.

• Germany's 2025 wheat crop will increase 16.3% on the year to 21.51 million metric tons, the country's association of farm cooperatives said, with crops benefiting from welcome rain after a very dry spring.

• Ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report on Friday, analysts expected the government to report export sales of U.S. wheat in the week ended June 12 at 300,000 to 600,000 metric tons.

• U.S. markets and most government offices will be closed on Thursday in observance of the Juneteenth federal holiday.