Wheat Trading Mixed as CBT Contracts Hold Higher
The wheat market is experiencing mixed trading on Wednesday morning, with Chicago Board of Trade (CBT) contracts holding higher and hard wheats fading lower. The wheat complex was also mixed on Tuesday, with spring wheat markets showing resilience while winter wheat prices declined.
Chicago SRW contracts were down by 1 to 10 ¼ cents in the front months, while deferred contracts saw a fractionally to 2 cents increase. Open interest slipped by 7,720 contracts, mainly due to liquidation in the September contract, which lost 14,165 contracts.
Kansas City Hard Red Winter (HRW) futures were the weakest of the wheat markets, with prices down by 5 ¼ to 15 cents at the close. Open interest for KC HRW futures only increased by a modest 168 contracts.
MPLS spring wheat was the stronger performer among the three exchanges, with contract prices rising fractionally to 1 ¼ cents across most months. This week's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Crop Progress report showed spring wheat conditions improving by 1% to 52% good/ex, while the Brugler500 index rebounded by 5 points to 344.
Notably, EU soft wheat exports since July 1 have totaled 1.48 MMT, which is lagging behind last year's pace of 2.9 MMT in the same period.