Wheat Goes Home Mixed

The first trade day of May ended with mixed wheat prices. CBT SRW futures were fractionally lower in May and July contracts, with Sep UNCH. The back months went home 1 3/4 to 3 1/4 cents higher. KC HRW ended red across the board, with losses limited to 7 3/4 cents. Spring wheat firmed up on Monday, gaining 1 3/4 to 3 1/4 cents by the bell. 

NASS Crop Progress data showed spring wheat planting was 19% finished at the national scale as of 5/1. That was up 6% points from the week prior, but trailing the 28% average planting pace. NASS showed 23% of the winter wheat crop was headed as of 5/1, compared to 29% on average. Winter wheat conditions were steady at 27% good/ex, but slipped 6 points to 265 when converted to the Brugler500 Index. That was the lowest rating of the season through the first 5-weeks of reporting, and the worst for any week since week 22 of 2006. Nebraska and Colorado were down the most since their initial 302 and 267 ratings, now at 269 and 232 on the Brugler500 scale respectively. Winter wheat in TX remains the lowest of the major producing states at just a 173. 

USDA reported wheat shipments were 384,460 MT during the week that ended 4/28. That was down from 533,203 MT during the same week last year. HRW made up 184k MT of the total, with the remainder split (mostly) evenly amongst white, HRS, and SRW. 

May 22 CBOT Wheat  closed at $10.43 1/2, down 1/4 cent,

Cash SRW Wheat  was $9.95, up 2 1/4 cents,

Jul  SRW Wheat  closed at $10.55 1/2, down 1/4 cent,

May 22 KCBT Wheat  closed at $10.86 3/4, down 7 1/2 cents,

Cash HRW Wheat  was $10.51 5/8, down 6 7/8 cents,

Jul  HRW Wheat  closed at $10.98, down 7 3/4 cents,

May 22 MGEX Wheat  closed at $11.63 1/4, up 2 cents,

Sep 22 MGEX Wheat  closed at $11.56 1/2, up 3 1/4 cents,