By Tony C. Dreibus March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat prices fell for the second straight day as wet weather boosts prospects for U.S. crops emerging from winter dormancy. Precipitation in the southern Great Plains was as much as six times the normal amount in the past month, adding soil moisture for plants, National Weather Service data show. Texas and Oklahoma will have “significant” wheat crops, said Darrell Holaday, the president of Advanced Market Concepts in Manhattan, Kansas. “There will be no drought problems this year,” Holaday said. “I’ve never seen Texas this wet, and I haven’t seen any producers complaining. They’ve got a lot of moisture in the ground.” Wheat futures for May delivery fell 5.5 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $4.8375 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. Yesterday, the price dropped 1.4 percent. The price has slumped 11 percent this year, partly because of increased world production. This week, the commodity declined 0.3 percent. The dollar gained as much as 0.8 percent today against a basket of major currencies, eroding the appeal of exports from the U.S., the world’s biggest grain shipper. Germany’s winter crop probably escaped damage from cold weather, grains trader Alfred C. Toepfer International GmbH said in a report. Wheat is the fourth-biggest U.S. crop, valued at $10.6 billion in 2009, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government data show. To contact the reporter on this story: Tony C. Dreibus in Chicago at Tdreibus@bloomberg.net.

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