The wheat market was mixed at the end of the week. While prices for SRW wheat in Chicago rose slightly on Friday - September gained 4.00 US cents to 540.75 US cents/bushel - contracts for Kansas City HRW wheat closed mostly weaker. The market for spring wheat in Minneapolis saw moderate increases of up to 2.50 US cents. This news allows the bulls to breathe a sigh of relief, as the week has so far been characterized by losses.
Today's quarterly report from the USDA is expected to show US wheat acreage of 45.4 million acres. In addition, stocks are expected to be around 836 million bushels, which could exceed the previous year's figure by a full 140 million bushels. There was also news from Canada, as according to Statistics Canada, the area under cultivation for wheat is slightly above the previous year's figure at 26.925 million acres.
News also leaked out that Egypt would be closing its own grain collection centers earlier. This usually happens when the harvest season comes to an end and indicates a deficit. The government had planned to buy around 5 million tons of its own harvest, but the current figure is just under 3.9 million tons.
Wheat also closed on Euronext with slight gains of €0.75 for September at €196.00 per tonne.
