The wheat market is trading higher across all three exchanges this morning. They led the grain rally on Monday. Chicago contracts were up 10 to 21 cents across the board. Kansas City futures were 16 ¼ to 20 ¼ cents higher on the day. MPLS spring wheat posted lighter gains, but still 3 ¼ to 10 ¼ cents higher. Some frost over the weekend was reported in parts of HRW country, helping to nudge the market higher, with dryness talk for the southern Plains seemingly a required seasonal news factor.
After the close, NASS reported that the US winter wheat crop 17% headed, 4% above the normal pace. Condition ratings for the crop were at 50% gd/ex, a 5% drop on the week. That took the Brugler500 index down 10 points to 336. The spring wheat crop was 15% planted, 5% faster than average and also well above last year’s pace. USDA also reported the crop 2% emerged, 1% below normal.
Weekly Export Inspection data from USDA showed 450,275 MT of wheat shipped in the week that ended on April 18. That was a 27.4% drop from last week but was still 23.76% larger than the same week in 2023. Japan was the top destination, with 91,916 MT in shipments, as 84,986 MT was exported to the Philippines and 74,435 MT was headed to Mexico. Cumulative shipments this year to all destinations have totaled 16.44 MMT, which is now 8.11% below the same time period last year.
May 24 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.70 1/4, up 20 cents, currently up 3 1/4 cents
Jul 24 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.87 1/2, up 20 3/4 cents, currently up 3 cents
May 24 KCBT Wheat closed at $5.97 1/2, up 16 cents, currently up 4 cents
Jul 24 KCBT Wheat closed at $6.02 1/2, up 19 1/2 cents, currently up 4 1/4 cents
Jul 24 MGEX Wheat closed at $6.62 3/4, up 10 1/4 cents, currently up 5 cents
On the date of publication, Alan Brugler did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.