Wheat Market Closes Lower on Friday Amid Reduced Net Short Position and Slowing Export Sales
The wheat market closed lower on Friday, with prices falling across three exchanges. Chicago SRW contracts were down by a fraction of 1¼ cents, while September contracts rose by 6¾ cents for the week.
Kansas City HRW futures posted losses ranging from 1¾ to 6 cents per session, but September contracts managed to hold onto a 2 cent gain for the week. Minneapolis spring wheat was down by 2½ to 4 cents at the close, with September rallying by 20 cents on the week.
The CFTC's weekly Commitment of Traders report showed that managed money reduced their net short position in Chicago SRW contracts by 4,916 contracts, bringing it down to a net short of 26,485 contracts. Meanwhile, they added back 7,173 contracts to their net long position in Kansas City HRW futures, increasing it to 34,835 contracts.
The USDA's weekly export sales report revealed that wheat sales for the 2026/27 marketing year stood at 7.936 million metric tons, a 31% decline from last year's figure. This represents 38% of the current USDA export estimate, which lags behind the 49% pace set by last year and the 45% average.
Russian wheat crop estimates were also revised downward to 88.2 million metric tons for 2026, a decline of 0.3 million metric tons from the previous number.