Wheat Closes Lower on Friday to Push Week’s Losses
The wheat complex held onto the weakness on Friday, with all three exchanges in the red. Chicago SRW futures were 2 to 3 1/4 cents lower on the day but pulled off the lows, as September was 8 cents lower this week. KC contracts were down 2 to 3 cents on Friday, with the weekly losses limited to 2 ½ cents for September. MPLS spring wheat posted just fractional losses, but managed a 10 ¾ cent loss since last Friday.
Friday afternoon’s Commitment of Traders report showed a total of 8,446 contracts trimmed from the spec fund net short position in CBT wheat futures and options as of July 22 to 52,041 contracts. In KC wheat, managed money was net short 43,959 contracts, a reduction of 4,043 contracts on the week.
USDA’s Export Sales data tallied 8.984 MMT of wheat sold so far for this marketing year. That is 39% of the USDA estimate and above the average sales pace of 37%.
A South Korean importer purchased a total of 85,200 MT of wheat from the US on Friday morning. FranceAgriMer estimates the soft wheat harvest at 86% complete, up from 71% last week.
Sep 25 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.38 1/4, down 3 1/4 cents,
Dec 25 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.58 1/4, down 3 cents,
Sep 25 KCBT Wheat closed at $5.26 1/2, down 2 cents,
Dec 25 KCBT Wheat closed at $5.47 3/4, down 2 cents,
Sep 25 MGEX Wheat closed at $5.85 3/4, down 3/4 cent,
Dec 25 MGEX Wheat closed at $6.06, down 3/4 cent,
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.
