The wheat market experienced mixed results on Tuesday, with Chicago soft red winter (SRW) futures closing slightly lower, while Kansas City hard red winter (HRW) futures and Minneapolis spring wheat also showed marginal declines. The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) for May 26 saw SRW wheat close at $5.98, up 2.75 cents, and July at $6.08. In contrast, Kansas City and Minneapolis contracts closed down by 0.75 to 3.5 cents.
As of the latest Crop Progress report, 7% of the US winter wheat crop is headed, ahead of the 5% five-year average. However, the initial condition rating revealed only 35% of the crop classified as good to excellent, significantly lower than the 42% analyst estimate and the 48% recorded at the same time last year. The Brugler500 index stands at 298 points, marking it the 7th lowest start for the crop since 1990.
Looking ahead, analysts anticipate a reduction in the USDA’s ending stocks estimate by 8 million bushels to 923 million bushels in the upcoming WASDE report. Additionally, the Russian wheat crop is estimated at 88.7 million metric tons, while EU wheat exports from July 1 to April 5 reached 18 million metric tons, an increase of 1.21 million metric tons compared to last year.
