Higher Wheat Prices for Holiday Weekend

The CBoT SRW contracts closed up by double digits, which had March at a net 22 1/2 cent gain for the week. MTD through December, March SRW futures are still down by 19 1/2 cents. KC HRW futures closed Friday up by 8 3/4 to 9 1/4 cents. Spring wheats ended the day 6 to 9 1/2 cents higher. As a reminder, the market is closed on Monday in recognition of Christmas. 

CFTC’s weekly CoT report showed managed money funds were closing positions through the week that ended 12/20. The 2.3k fewer longs and 5.9k fewer shorts left the group 59,311 contracts net short at the settle. In KC wheat, the funds were closing longs and adding shorts for a 7,295 weaker net long of just 1,245 contracts. Managed money has been net long in HRW since August of 2020. CFTC reported spring wheat spec traders were 505 contracts more net short to 4,427 contracts. The specs have been net short spring wheat since 11/22. 

FAS data showed 334,207 MT of wheat was sold during the week that ended 12/15. Unknown destinations were the top buyer, with 66k MT for Japan. The export shipments for the week was 235k MT for a 10.24 MMT yearly total. FAS data had 14.444 MMT of commitments for the season. Of that, HRS commitments were 30.4% of the total, followed by 28% for HRW. 

Mar 23 CBOT Wheat  closed at $7.76, up 13 3/4 cents,

May 23 CBOT Wheat  closed at $7.82 1/2, up 12 3/4 cents,

Cash SRW Wheat  was $7.17 5/8, up 13 3/4 cents,

Mar 23 KCBT Wheat  closed at $8.74 3/4, up 8 3/4 cents,

Cash HRW Wheat  was $8.38 1/4, up 8 3/4 cents,

Mar 23 MGEX Wheat  closed at $9.31 3/4, up 9 1/2 cents,