Wheat Market Opens Modestly Lower as Traders Eye WASDE Report

The wheat market started Friday on a modestly bearish note, with contracts trading lower across the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT), and Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) exchanges.

This comes after Thursday's rally, during which CBOT Chicago SRW contracts gained 5 ¾ to 12 ½ cents. The day saw just one delivery issued for September CBT wheat overnight, while open interest fell by 4,789 contracts.

KC HRW futures rose by 10 ¼ to 12 ¾ cents at the close, with 27 delivery notices against September KC wheat overnight and a decrease in open interest of 2,581 contracts. MPLS spring wheat saw contracts close 12 ½ to 15 ¾ cents higher.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is expected to keep US production estimates unchanged in this month's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE), pending the Small Grains Summary on September 30. The report may update the rest of the balance sheet, with traders predicting few changes, a Bloomberg survey indicates an average guess of 718 million bushels, just 1 million above August.