Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures rose on Tuesday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered condition ratings for the nation's drought-hit crop to a 30-year low.
Extreme dryness has ravaged crops in the U.S. Plains, where farmers grow hard red winter wheat used to make bread. USDA rated 27% of the nation's winter wheat in good-to-excellent condition as of Sunday in a report issued after trading ended on Monday. That was down 1 percentage point from a week earlier and the lowest for this time of year since 1996.
