Wheat Futures Show Mixed Results Amid Upcoming Reports

Traders Anticipate Key Data on Winter Wheat Seedings and Export Sales

Wheat futures are experiencing mixed movements across three exchanges as Friday morning trading unfolds. Following some late buying after midday lows on Thursday, contracts still closed lower as traders squared positions ahead of important reports. Chicago SRW futures fell by 2 to 3 cents in the nearby contracts. In contrast, KC HRW trading remained steady to slightly lower, while MPLS spring wheat futures were down by 1 to 2 cents.

Analysts are eagerly awaiting the weekly Export Sales report, which is expected to reveal wheat sales ranging from 150,000 to 500,000 metric tons for the week ending January 2.

As the Winter Wheat Seedings report is set to be released, traders are predicting that the USDA will report a total winter wheat acreage of 33.366 million acres, a reduction of 24,000 acres compared to last year. Notably, Hard Red Winter (HRW) acreage may reach 23.73 million acres, Soft Red Winter (SRW) at 6.14 million acres, and white wheat at 3.49 million acres. Additionally, December 1 Grain Stocks data is expected to show wheat stocks at 1.565 billion bushels, which would be an increase of 144 million bushels from last year if realized. Furthermore, ending stocks projections are anticipated to rise by 4 million bushels to reach 799 million bushels.

On a global scale, world wheat ending stocks are estimated to be at 257.86 million metric tons, nearly unchanged from last month’s figure of 257.88 million metric tons.

In a development from Taiwan, mills purchased a total of 114,650 metric tons of wheat from the U.S. on Thursday.

Closing prices for wheat futures on March 25 are as follows:

CBOT Wheat closed at $5.34, down 2 1/4 cents, currently down 1 1/4 cents.

May 25 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.46, down 2 1/2 cents, currently down 1 cent.

KCBT Wheat closed at $5.50 1/4, unchanged, currently unchanged.

May 25 KCBT Wheat closed at $5.58 1/2, down 3/4 cent, currently up 1/4 cent.

MGEX Wheat closed at $5.83 1/2, down 1 1/2 cents, currently up 1/4 cent.

May 25 MGEX Wheat closed at $5.91 3/4, down 2 cents, currently up 1/4 cent.

On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not hold (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information, please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.