Wheat Complex Falls on Friday as September Contracts Gain

The wheat complex closed in the red on Friday, August 21, as Chicago SRW contracts fell by 1 ¼ cents. September contracts, however, managed to gain 6 ¾ cents for the week. The KC HRW futures also posted losses of 1 ¾ to 6 cents, but September maintained a 2 cent gain for the week.

The MPLS spring wheat was down 2 ½ to 4 cents lower at the close, while September rallied 20 cents on the week. The expiration of September options today marked another significant development in the market.

The CFTC's Commitment of Traders report revealed that managed money cut back 4,916 contracts from their CBT wheat net short position in the week of August 18 to a net short of 26,485 contracts. In contrast, in KC wheat, they added back 7,173 contracts to their net long to 34,835 contracts.

The USDA Export Sales report showed that 2026/27 wheat sales totaled 7.936 MMT, down 31% from last year. This is significantly lower than the current USDA export estimate and lags behind the pace of last year and the average pace.