Wheat Starts the Weak with Sharp Losses

The wheat market ended the Monday session with double digit losses across the three exchanges. Chicago futures were down 10 ¼ to 20 cents on the day. Kansas City contracts fell 15 ¼ to 21 ¾ cents across the board on Monday. MPLS spring wheat was 10 to 15 ¾ cents in the red as the final bell rang.

The US winter wheat harvest was tallied at 63% complete by July 7, now 11% above the average pace. The spring wheat crop was listed at 59% headed, 1% lagging the average pace. Condition ratings were up 3% to 75% gd/ex, as the Brugler500 index (factoring in all 5 ratings) was up 2 points to 380.

Wheat shipments were pegged at 341,005 MT (12.5 mbu) during the week that ended on July 4th. That was up 1.7% from the week prior but down 18.7% vs. the same week last year. Of that total, 92,188 MT was split out as headed to Japan, with 67,761 MT headed to South Korea an 55,200 MT to Peru. In the first month+ of the marketing year, exporters have shipped 1.73 MMT (63.6 mbu) so far, which is a 13.7% increase over the previous marketing year. 

CFTC data released on Monday afternoon indicated specs in Chicago wheat adding 3,487 contracts to their net short to 73,974 contracts. In KC wheat, they increased that net short by 6,031 contracts to 43,103 contracts.

Jul 24 CBOT Wheat  closed at $5.53, down 19 1/4 cents,

Sep 24 CBOT Wheat  closed at $5.70 1/2, down 20 cents,

Jul 24 KCBT Wheat  closed at $5.73 1/2, down 21 3/4 cents,

Sep 24 KCBT Wheat  closed at $5.77 1/4, down 21 3/4 cents,

Jul 24 MGEX Wheat  closed at $6.21, unch,

Sep 24 MGEX Wheat  closed at $6.17 1/2, down 15 3/4 cents,

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.