Wheat Turns Around to Close Mixed on Thursday
Wheat futures were mixed across the three exchanges on Thursday, as the hard red contracts held up. Chicago SRW futures were down 3 to 4 cents in the front months at the close, pressured by a wet forecast. Kansas City HRW contracts rallied off early weakness into the close, up 1 to 2 cents at the final bell. MPLS spring wheat was firmer, up 2 to 4 cents to close out the Thursday session.
Rains forecast for the next week are seen totaling 1 to 3 inches in much of SRW country. HRW regions are relatively dry, with exceptions to eastern portions of the Southern Plains.
USDA’s Export Sales data was released this morning, showing just 100,325 MT in 2024/25 sales in the week of 3/20. That was still above the week prior’s net reductions. Japan was the largest buyer of 72,000 MT, with 53,400 MT sold to Nigeria. There was also 125,500 MT in net reductions for unknown destinations (mostly switched to a destination). New crop wheat sales were shy of 100,000 to 300,000 MT estimates, at 11,200 MT.
Taiwan importers purchased a total of 100,000 MT of US wheat overnight. EU soft wheat production for 2025/26 is estimated at 126.5 MMT according to the European Commission estimates, well above last year’s 111.8 MMT. The forecast for ending stocks for 2025/26 is at 7.3 MMT, below the 9.4 MMT expected for 2024/25.
May 25 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.32, down 3 1/4 cents,
Jul 25 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.47 1/4, down 3 3/4 cents,
May 25 KCBT Wheat closed at $5.66 1/4, up 1 1/4 cents,
Jul 25 KCBT Wheat closed at $5.79 3/4, up 1/2 cent,
May 25 MGEX Wheat closed at $5.88 1/2, up 3 1/4 cents,
Jul 25 MGEX Wheat closed at $6.03 1/4, up 2 1/4 cents,
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.