Wheat On the Positive Side of Unchanged to Kick Off Monday

Harvesting wheat by Bence Balla-Schottner via Unsplash

Wheat is showing slight gains so far on Monday morning, with spring wheat a little weaker. The wheat complex saw Friday gains, as USDA gave a friendlier US number. CBT soft red wheat futures were 2 to 3 cents in the higher at the close, with December up 4 ¼ cents last week. Friday’s open interest was down 2,305 contracts.  HRW futures were up 4 to 5 cents across the front months, as Dec rose 9 ½ cents since the previous Friday. Preliminary OI was up just 2,992 contracts. There were 22 deliveries against September, which expired on Friday, with the monthly total at 663. MPLS spring wheat was fractionally higher, with December up 5 ¾ cents last week.

The Friday afternoon Commitment of Traders report showed spec traders in Chicago wheat futures and options adding 10,451 contracts to their net short position of 92,394 contracts by Tuesday September 9th. In Kansas City futures and options, specs trimmed their net short position by 1,656 contracts to 53,025 contracts.

USDA’s monthly WASDE saw no changes to the demand side of the balance sheet on Friday as expected, though the demand did see one. Exports were raised by 25 mbu to 900 mbu, with stocks dropping by that same figure to 844 mbu. The US cash average price was also cut by 20 cents to $5.10. 

The world balance sheet saw a 3.98 MMT increase to stocks at 264.06 MMT. There were several major culprits, as Russia production was up 1.5 MMT, with the EU raised by 1.85 MMT, Canada and Ukraine 1 MMT higher, while Australia saw the biggest increase, up 3.5 MMT.

Sep 25 CBOT Wheat  closed at $5.03, up 8 cents,

Dec 25 CBOT Wheat  closed at $5.23 1/2, up 2 cents, currently 2 1/2 cents

Sep 25 KCBT Wheat  closed at $4.87, up 1 1/4 cents,

Dec 25 KCBT Wheat  closed at $5.14 3/4, up 4 3/4 cents, currently up 3/4 cents

Sep 25 MGEX Wheat  closed at $5.50 1/4, up 2 cents,

Dec 25 MGEX Wheat  closed at $5.72 3/4, up 1/4 cent, currently down 2 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.