Demand from the Gulf exporters was also boosting premiums for high-protein wheat. Premiums for railcar wheat to and through Kansas City rose by 9 cents on Wednesday for wheat with 13.0 through 13.8 percent protein. Premiums for 12.0 and 12.2 percent protein wheat rose by 9 cents and premiums for 11.2 and 11.4 percent rose 5 cents. With harvest still weeks away in core wheat areas, farmers were reluctant to make fresh sales before learning more about yield prospects. Recovery prospects for wheat flattened by heavy snows in western Kansas at the end of April remained highly variable, one Kansas trader said. Storms moved through south-central Kansas and northern Oklahoma on Wednesday afternoon, bringing unwanted rain to maturing crops.
Traders noted anecdotal reports of winter wheat harvest starting in east-central Texas, two to three weeks ahead of normal. The US Department of Agriculture estimated US winter wheat production for 2017-18 at 1.246 billion bushels, below an average of trade estimates for 1.293 billion. Analysts cautioned that the figure likely failed to account for potentially damaging storms that swept the Plains and Midwest production areas at the end of April.
Copyright Reuters, 2017