Wheats Firm for Friday Close

Wheat prices recovered on Friday after sharp drops Wednesday and Thursday. SRW went home with 7 3/4 to 9 1/4 cent gains, which left the March contract 6 1/4 cents higher from Friday to Friday. KC HRW futures were up 7 1/2 to 8 3/4 cents at the bell. That left March back above $8 on the board, and 9 cents above the Friday settle last week. For the Minneapolis spring wheat futures, Friday’s gains were 12 1/4 to 17 3/4 cents, enough to limit the week’s drop to 15 3/4 cents. 

The weekly CoT report showed wheat specs were 11,474 contracts less net short in CBT SRW. The net new buying left managed money at a 13,427 contract net short as of 1/25. In HRW, CFTC’s data showed managed money firms were 4,515 contracts more net long via short covering. That left the group 40,634 contracts net long. The weekly data showed long liquidation for MPLS wheat spec traders. That reduced their net long by 517 contracts to 3,340. 

IHS Markit estimates 2022 wheat area at 48.157m acres. Getting there, the firm matched USDA’s winter wheat area of 34.397m acres (up from 33.648m planted for 21/22), with 12.01m for spring wheat. That is up from 11.42 planted last year, but below IHS Markit’s prior estimate. Durum acres were estimated at 1.75 million acres. 

Egypt’s GASC booked 420k MT of wheat, to be sourced 180k MT from the Ukraine, 120k MT Russian, and 120k MT Romanian with a mid-March delivery. 

Mar 22 CBOT Wheat  closed at $7.86 1/4, up 9 1/4 cents,

Cash SRW Wheat  was $7.47 7/8, up 9 cents,

Mar 22 KCBT Wheat  closed at $8.02 1/4, up 8 3/4 cents,

Cash HRW Wheat  was $7.85 7/8, up 8 3/4 cents,

Mar 22 MGEX Wheat  closed at $9.20 1/4, up 17 3/4 cents,