Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat rose, heading for the biggest weekly gain in 20 months, on speculation that wet weather will delay planting in the U.S. as soggy fields prevent farmers from harvesting corn and soybeans. About 44 percent of winter wheat was seeded as of Oct. 18 in Ohio, the biggest producer of soft-red varieties, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. That’s behind the five-year average of 75 percent. The pace of the corn and soybean harvests is less than half the average since 2003, the USDA said this week. Wheat has jumped 28 percent from a two-year low on Oct. 2. “A lot of this is because of the wet fall and farmers not being able to get into the fields,” said Larry Young, a senior trader at Infinity Futures Inc. in Chicago. “We’re seeing value here. We’re seeing a lot of traders taking advantage and getting long.” Wheat futures for December delivery rose 13.75 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $5.655 a bushel at 10:30 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, after earlier reaching $5.7475, the highest for a most-active contract since Aug. 4. The grain has gained 14 percent this week, which would be the steepest weekly increase since February 2008. October Surge Wheat has soared 24 percent this month, partly on concern that U.S. farmers will seed fewer acres with winter varieties and instead leave ground fallow after collecting corn and soybeans. Overall, about 69 percent of the U.S. winter-wheat crop was planted as of Oct. 18, compared with the previous five- year average of 78 percent, according to the USDA. Soft-red winter wheat, used to make cookies and cakes, is planted in the eastern Midwest from Arkansas north to Illinois and east to Ohio. Hard-red winter varieties are seeded in the southern Great Plains from Nebraska to Texas and used to make bread and pasta. The corn harvest was 17 percent complete as of Oct. 18, below the previous five-year average of 46 percent, and soybeans were 30 percent harvested, compared with the five- year average of 72 percent, government data show. Wheat is the fourth-biggest U.S. crop, valued at $16.6 billion in 2008, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government data show. The U.S. is the world’s largest wheat exporter. To contact the reporter on this story: Tony C. Dreibus in Chicago at Tdreibus@bloomberg.net.

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