Wheat Market Sees Gains Amid Positive Crop Reports

The wheat complex showed strong performance across all three exchanges on Monday. Chicago SRW futures closed up firmly by 8 3/4 cents. Additionally, Kansas City HRW contracts rose between ¾ and 5 ¼ cents by the end of the trading day. MPLS spring wheat also increased, with gains ranging from 7 to 11 cents in nearby contracts. Precipitation is expected to affect a substantial part of the Southern Plains and SRW regions over the next week, which could influence crop conditions.

State Crop Progress Reports

According to individual state Crop Progress reports, Kansas’s winter wheat remains steady at 49% rated good/excellent, with the Brugler500 index holding steady at 334. Texas experienced a 5% drop in ratings, now at 26% good/excellent, while its Brugler500 index decreased by 3 points to 285. Comprehensive weekly NASS national Crop Progress reports are set to commence next Monday.

Wheat Stocks and Planting Intentions

The NASS reported March 1 wheat stocks at 1.236 billion bushels in today’s quarterly Grain Stocks report. This figure exceeds trade estimates by 15 million bushels but remains within the anticipated range. Year-over-year, that represents an increase of 147 million bushels.

The annual Prospective Plantings report revealed farmers intend to sow 45.35 million acres of wheat this spring, falling short of the trade average estimate of 46.53 million acres. Winter wheat acres decreased by 800,000 acres compared to the January Winter Wheat Seedings report, now totaling 33.315 million acres—75,000 acres less than last year. For spring wheat, intentions are recorded at 10.02 million acres, below the 10.531 million acre estimate from market analysts.

Export Inspections Overview

FGIS’s report on Export Inspections indicated that 435,644 metric tons (16.007 million bushels) of wheat were shipped during the week ending March 27. This represents a decline of 10.19% from the previous week and a 13.46% decrease compared to the same week last year. Noteworthy shipments included 76,142 metric tons to Mexico and 67,470 metric tons to South Korea. Overall, marketing year shipments have reached 17.29 million metric tons (635.29 million bushels) since June 1, 2024, which is 16.41% higher than last year’s figures.

Wheat Futures Prices

May 25 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.37, up 8 3/4 cents.

Jul 25 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.50 1/2, up 7 3/4 cents.

May 25 KCBT Wheat closed at $5.57, up 5 1/4 cents.

Jul 25 KCBT Wheat closed at $5.70, up 4 1/2 cents.

May 25 MGEX Wheat closed at $5.92, up 11 cents.

Jul 25 MGEX Wheat closed at $6.06 3/4, up 10 1/4 cents.

On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (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.

More news from Barchart

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