"There is a long time between now and harvest and we are cautiously optimistic that the longer term outlook for the market is positive," Ted Laskie, AWB (International) Ltd general manager, said in a statement.

"It is expected to be a few more weeks until we have a better idea of the size and quality of the US and Canadian crops, until then wheat prices are expected to remain volatile," he said.

Delays to the US wheat harvest and uncertainty over the size of the country's crop has kept markets trading in a tight range over the past couple of weeks, he said.

In addition, concern over weather conditions in the northern US plains and in Canada which may impact on spring wheat planting and quality had continued to add to the uncertainty of the overall size of the North American wheat crop, he said.