Wheat at new high on CBOT

December wheat set a new record on the Chicago Board of Trade on Wednesday when it rose by its exchanged-imposed limit of 30 cents for the day to $7.34 per bushel.

It later retreated to $7.3175 per bushel, still a gain of 27.75 cents on the session.

The gains came on rising demand and falling output that has people “panic-buying” according to at least one trader.

Bad weather has hurt crops in a number of regions globally, and by the end of May 2008 stockpiles around the world are widely expected to be at a 26-year low.

In Paris, meanwhile, November wheat added €4.75 to €232.25 per tonne, or $8.52 per bushel.

Many expect the higher prices to result in higher demand for less expensive US wheat.

Meanwhile, October sugar added 0.1 cent to 9.41 cents per pound on the New York Board of Trade on the possibility that Russia could raise duties on imported sugar from $140 per tonne to $220 per tonne.

Crude oil prices were mixed Wednesday after the US Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil inventories were up by 1.9 million barrels to 337.1 million barrels in the week ending August 17, instead of declining by nearly 3 million barrels as had been expected.

West Texas Intermediate for October delivery dropped 31 cents to $69.26 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but Brent crude October contracts were 21 cents higher to $68.90 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange in London.

Nymex September gasoline added 3 cents to $1.89 per gallon, while October heating oil fell 1 cent to $1.96 per gallon and October natural gas dropped 24 cents to $5.79 per million British thermal units.

Gasoline stockpiles saw their biggest one-week decline in four years as inventories dropped by 5.7 million barrels to 196.2 million barrels during the week.

Distillates stockpiles, including heating oil and diesel fuel, were 1.3 million barrels higher to 129 million barrels.

Base metals prices were mostly higher Wednesday after BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT; NYSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) said that while it expects metals prices to remain volatile it also anticipates them remaining high on continuing demand, especially from China.

December copper added 6 cents to $3.22 per pound in New York, while copper on the London Metal Exchange gained 2 percent to $7,143 per tonne.

Aluminium added 1 percent in London to $2,516 per tonne after Alcoa (NYSE: AA) declared force majeure, excusing itself from contracted deliveries after Hurricane Dean knocked out electrical service to its refinery in Jamacia.

Elsewhere, tin added 3.2 percent to $14,600 per tonne, while lead was up 3.8 percent to trade at around the $3,000 per tonne level.

Uranium, however, dropped $15 to $90 per pound in the most recent quote, its lowest price since March.

Among precious metals, December gold added $2.50 to end the session in New York at $668.70 per troy ounce, while December silver was up 6 cents to trade at $11.73 per troy ounce.

On the other hand October platinum weakened, dropping $2.80 to $1,248.50 per troy ounce on the session.

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