Wheat Futures Retreat as Northern Harvests Accelerate

Key Moments

Early Tuesday Trade Under Pressure

Wheat futures came under pressure early on Tuesday, with losses reported across all three major U.S. exchanges. The weak tone follows a mixed but mostly softer session on Monday, when only a handful of Chicago contracts managed to close higher.

Monday’s Futures Performance

In Chicago, soft red winter (SRW) wheat futures finished Monday with nearby contracts edging slightly higher and deferred positions trading in a narrow band between 1 ¼ cents lower and 1 ¼ cents higher. Open interest in Chicago wheat expanded by 5,589 contracts, indicating fresh participation in the market.

Kansas City hard red winter (HRW) wheat futures ended the session with declines ranging from 3 cents to 5 ¾ cents. Open interest in that market fell by 2,781 contracts, pointing to some liquidation of positions.

Minneapolis spring wheat futures also weakened on Monday, closing between 2 ¾ cents and 4 ½ cents lower for the day.

Geopolitical Backdrop

On Monday, Ukraine’s President Zelensky stated there will be a diplomatic track with Russia in regard to the Black Sea attack.

U.S. Spring Wheat Harvest and Conditions

The latest NASS Crop Progress report showed that 62% of the U.S. spring wheat crop had been harvested by Sunday. This pace was 10% ahead of the normal schedule and marked a 21% increase from the prior week.

Spring wheat conditions slipped modestly, with 51% of the crop rated good to excellent, down 1% from the previous reading. The Brugler500 index for the crop declined by 3 points to 341, representing the final condition rating for this season’s spring wheat.

Export Inspections Highlight Demand Headwinds

Monday’s weekly Export Inspections report recorded wheat shipments of 425,668 metric tons (15.64 million bushels) for the week of 8/20. That figure was 17.24% lower than the prior week and 59.35% below the same week a year earlier.

The Philippines was the top destination, taking 117,217 MT. South Korea received 78,033 MT, while Japan accounted for 72,335 MT of the inspected volume.

Cumulative wheat export inspections for the marketing year reached 4.337 million metric tons (159.3 million bushels), running 26.07% behind the total for the same period last year.

Futures Snapshot

The following table summarizes Monday’s settlement levels alongside current early Tuesday indications for key wheat contracts:

Disclosure

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.