Wheat prices are starting off the last week of February with 2 to 7 cent losses across the domestic futures. March SRW had traded from -9 to +4 ¾ cents overnight. Wheat futures faded into the weekend, but held onto a weekly gain. Chicago futures were down by as much as a dime on Friday, though March was still up by 13 cents vs last Friday. KC wheat futures dropped by 5 to 8 cents on the last trade day of the week, though March held onto a weekly gain of 1 ½ cents. The March HRS/SRW spread now favors SRW with a 4 ¾ cent premium. March options expired on Friday. Thursday is FND for March futures deliveries. Spring wheat futures finished out 7 ¾ to 9 ¾ cents weaker on Friday and a net 13 ¼ cents lower for the week.
Weekly CFTC data showed managed money traders were 68.5k contracts net short in SRW wheat, a 13k contract stronger net short for the week after net new selling. Spec traders were also net sellers of HRW wheat during the week that ended 2/20. The group was reported with a 42k contract net short at the settle. The weekly CoT report had Minneapolis spec traders with a 24.2k contract net short in HRS as of 2/20, vs a 24.8k contract net short the week prior.
The weekly wheat export sales were 233,500 MT for the week that ended 2/15. That was below the range of estimates and down 34% from the week prior. 98.5k MT of the total were listed as HRW, which was a 5-wk high for the class. The report also had 46.6k MT of new crop wheat sales for the week.
Mar 24 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.73 1/2, down 9 3/4 cents, currently down 7 3/4 cents
May 24 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.69, down 10 1/4 cents, currently down 4 3/4 cents
Mar 24 KCBT Wheat closed at $5.68 3/4, down 5 1/4 cents, currently down 3 1/2 cents
Mar 24 MGEX Wheat closed at $6.41 1/2, down 9 3/4 cents, currently down 3 1/4 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 Disclosure Policy here.
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