Wheat futures are showing lower trade. The complex posted lower trade across the three exchanges on Friday following USDA’s increase to the world stocks projection.Chicago SRW futures were down 4 ¼ to 5 cents on the day. December was up 9 ¼ cents over the week. KC HRW contracts were 4 ½ 6 ½ cents lower at the close, as December managed a 6 ½ cent gain since last Friday. MPLS spring wheat closed down 2 to 6 1/2 cents, as December was 5 ¼ cents higher on the week.
For the US balance sheet in the Friday morning’s WASDE, USDA revised the old crop stocks 6 mbu lower due to the Grains Stocks report last week, while reducing the production total by 11 mbu to 1.971 bbu, via the Small Grains Summary. Mix in a 10 mbu increase to feed and residual and 10 mbu more imports, and stocks were revised lower by 16 mbu to 812 mbu.
For the World numbers, USDA did show a 1 MMT cut to EU and Russian production, with Ukraine down 0.6 MMT. However, a larger carryover, with 2.36 MMT lower use and smaller exports, helped to raise the world carryout for 2024/25 by 0.5 MMT to 257.72 MMT.
The French soft winter wheat crop is now 6% planted according to FranceAgriMer. SovEcon trimmed their Russian wheat estimate by another 1.4 MMT from their previous projection to 81.5 MMT.
The Friday afternoon’s Commitment of Traders report showed specs in Chicago wheat futures and options adding back 6,496 contracts to their net short as of 10/8. In KC, they were cutting 9,386 contracts to their net short position, at 5,884 contracts as of Tuesday.
Dec 24 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.99, down 4 3/4 cents, currently down 1 3/4 cents
Mar 25 CBOT Wheat closed at $6.21 3/4, down 4 3/4 cents, currently down 2 cents
Dec 24 KCBT Wheat closed at $6.04 1/2, down 6 1/2 cents, currently down 2 3/4 cents
Mar 25 KCBT Wheat closed at $6.21 1/4, down 6 1/2 cents, currently down 2 1/2 cents
Dec 24 MGEX Wheat closed at $6.43 3/4, down 6 1/2 cents, currently down 2 cents
Mar 25 MGEX Wheat closed at $6.64 1/2, down 6 1/2 cents, currently down 1 cent
On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder 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.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
