By Tony C. Dreibus Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat rose for a second straight week on speculation that index-fund managers are buying contracts, betting that prices will rise as farmers plant fewer acres in the U.S., the world’s biggest exporter. Analysts and other industry professionals were expecting fund managers to start buying agriculture commodities this week, including wheat and corn, said Larry Glenn, an analyst at Frontier Ag in Quinter, Kansas. U.S. producers probably seeded fewer acres with winter wheat after wet weather kept farmers from clearing corn and soybeans in time to plant the grain. “What’s pushing the price up is fund rebalancing with the positive-looking technical picture,” Glenn said. “The idea of them doing that is supportive. The winter-wheat acreage number is down. The guys out here said they’d rather plant the fall crops rather than wheat.” Wheat futures for March delivery rose 10.75 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $5.685 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The most-active contract gained 5 percent this week, partly as buyers snapped up contracts in anticipation of increased buying by index funds. The price also gained on speculation that freezing weather will damage dormant plants in parts of Nebraska and Kansas, the biggest U.S. producer. Colder Weather Temperatures dropped to as low as minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 29 degrees Celsius) in parts of Nebraska and Kansas yesterday, and may be even colder tomorrow, according to forecaster AccuWeather Inc. Plants sown from September through November face damage without enough snow to provide a protective layer against freezing wind and unusually low temperatures. “Southwest Kansas had some open fields” unprotected by snow, Glenn said. “The rest of the state has quite a bit of snow on it now. The northern half received snow earlier, and we received light amounts, but it’s been windy.” Wheat is the fourth-biggest U.S. crop, valued at $16.6 billion in 2008, 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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