Wheat commentary: Mixed futures end losing week at a loss

Futures saw little change Friday as the market rounded out a largely uneventful week, with volumes down as the bulk of trading started to move in earnest from the March to the May contract on both the major US contracts.

In a shorter trading week, Chicago front-month futures lost just shy of 1.8% while Kansas wheat was down 2.4% as drought concerns across North America started to show signs of easing off.

On Friday, the SRW March contract was up 0.2% while May was unchanged, and on the HRW, March and May were both down 0.4%.

There were little surprises with the USDA’s wheat exports at 328,900 mt, up 6% from the previous week and well within the expected range of 250,000–500,000 mt.

European contracts, meanwhile, saw decent volumes as the front-month gained 0.9% while May was up 0.6%.

On the cash market, APW inland bid indications were down moderately at AUD 289/mt, while the Australian dollar held flat, nudging the Agricensus APW assessment down 50 cents to $235.75/mt FOB Western Australia.

Russian milling wheat was up 25 cents to $203/mt FOB Novorossiysk on the back of a stronger ruble against the dollar and offers heard unchanged overnight in the region of $204/mt in the spot market.

Ukrainian feed wheat remains hard to come by in the export market with only milling wheat typically offered, pushing the Agricensus spot assessment up $1 further to $187.75/mt.

In Argentina, bids in the spot market were heard steady at $187/mt FOB Up River overnight, with selling interest unseen, while on the 11.5% protein market spot was bid at $183/mt against an offer at $193/mt.

With cash indications steady – and despite a slightly weaker peso against the dollar – the Agricensus assessment held at $188/mt FOB Up River.