© Associated Press
Flooding Over Midwest.
Flooding Over Midwest.
Since October, North Dakota, the largest wheat-growing state, South Dakota and Minnesota got almost 3 feet more snow than usual, National Weather Service data show. According to Bloomberg News, more than 20 inches remain in some areas, about the same amount that was on the ground at this time in 2009, before floods along the Red River of the North caused about $223.7 million in damage and killed more than 91,000 cattle.
Planting delays may curb wheat output for a third year in the U.S., the world's largest exporter. Global inventories of the grain already were eroded by floods last year in Australia and Canada and a drought in Russia that sent wheat prices to two-year high last month. World food prices tracked by the United Nations reached a record in February.
"There is strong interest in wheat" from traders because of the potential threat to U.S. production, said Jim Peterson, the marketing director of the Bismarck-based North Dakota Wheat Commission, an industry group. If floods delay the start of spring planting until late April, "you'll start seeing the market get quite concerned," he said.
