Wheat Market Loses Ground Amid Declining Exports and Crop Progress

The wheat market started the week on a sour note, with losses across three exchanges. On Monday, the Chicago SRW contracts saw deferred contracts close 1 ¼ cents lower, while nearbys were slightly higher by 1 ¼ cents. The open interest in these contracts rose by 5,589 contracts.

The Kansas City HRW futures also posted losses of between 3 to 5 ¾ cents on Monday's close. Open interest in this market was down 2,781 contracts. Meanwhile, MPLS spring wheat prices were down 2 ¾ to 4 ½ cents on the session.

In other news, Ukraine's President Zelensky stated there will be a diplomatic track with Russia regarding the Black Sea attack. The US Department of Agriculture's Crop Progress report showed that 62% of the country's spring wheat crop was harvested by Sunday, which is 10% ahead of the normal pace and a 21% jump from the week prior.

Monday's weekly Export Inspections report revealed that wheat shipments totalled 425,668 MT (15.64 mbu) in the week of August 20, marking a 17.24% decrease from the previous week and 59.35% below the same period last year. The Philippines was the largest recipient of these shipments with 117,217 MT, followed by South Korea and Japan.