Wheat futures fell the most this month on signs that demand is easing for supplies from the U.S., the world’s largest exporter, as competing producers boost output and offer lower prices. Net U.S. sales to foreign buyers in the week ended July 14 fell 22 percent from a week earlier to 403,528 metric tons, the fewest since the end of May, the Department of Agriculture said today. Russia may export 18 million tons in the year that started July 1 after halting shipments during a drought last year, the country’s agriculture minister said. This year’s crop may be 48 percent larger than 2010. “Russian business is more competitive than us,” Tom Leffler, the owner of Leffler Commodities LLC in Augusta, Kansas, said in a telephone interview. “That’s not good, because we have so much wheat, that we need to export some.” Wheat futures for September delivery fell 19.75 cents, or 2.8 percent, to settle at $6.7725 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, the biggest decline for a most-active contract since June 30. The price has dropped 15 percent this year. Futures gained in the two previous days on concern that hot weather in the U.S. and heavy rain in the European Union would diminish global crops. Russia removed its export ban on grains on July 1 after the worst drought in 50 years cut production last year. Last week, Egypt said it bought 180,000 tons of Russian wheat in a tender. Wheat is the fourth-largest U.S. crop, valued at $13 billion in 2010, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government data show. To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Chappatta in Chicago at bchappatta@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net

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