Wheat Extends Pullback to Tuesday Morning
The wheat market is showing weakness again on Tuesday after a round of overnight trade. Futures backed off in the winter wheat contracts to start off the week. Chicago contracts were down 4 ½ to 13 ¾ cents on the session. Kansas City was down 1 ¼ to 3 ¾ cents across most contracts. MPLS was holding up, with contracts 2 ¾ cents to 7 cents higher, as May was 18 cents higher ahead of First Notice day. Russian growing regions are projected to see some precip over the coming week, which put pressure on Chicago. KC and Chicago wheat futures price limits are set to be trimmed by a dime on Wednesday to 40 cents after the CME did their bi-annual review.
There were a hefty 1,151 contracts delivered against May wheat futures overnight, justifying the spec funds’ haste in exiting last week. Marex customers issued 1000 contracts, with stoppers all over the street. There were zero deliveries against KC HRW futures.
Monday afternoon’s Crop Progress report showed 30% of the US winter wheat crop headed as of 4/28. That was 9% ahead of the normal pace. Condition ratings were down 1% to 49% gd/ex, with the Brugler500 index down 2 points to 334. The spring wheat crop was 34% planted, well above the 19% average pace. The crop was also 5% emerged, with the average pace at 5%.
Weekly Export Inspections data showed 481,183 MT of wheat shipped during the week that ended last Thursday, April 25. That was a jump of 6.85% on the week, with a 31.64% increase on the same week last year. Shipments were pretty spread out, as China was the lead destination of 69,950 MT. Another 45,832 MT was headed to Taiwan, with 44,888 MT headed to Chile. Year to date export shipments have totaled 16.921 MMT (621 mbu), which is still down 7.32% vs. year ago.
May 24 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.90 1/4, down 13 cents, currently down 10 3/4 cents
Jul 24 CBOT Wheat closed at $6.08 1/2, down 13 3/4 cents, currently down 10 3/4 cents
May 24 KCBT Wheat closed at $6.43 3/4, down 2 1/2 cents, currently down 6 cents
Jul 24 KCBT Wheat closed at $6.50 1/2, down 3 3/4 cents, currently down 11 cents
Jul 24 MGEX Wheat closed at $7.07 3/4, up 4 1/4 cents, currently down 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.
