The surprisingly poor state of US winter wheat stocks caused strong price gains yesterday at the wheat quotes in Chicago. Kansas City wheat and Minneapolis summer wheat also grew strongly. Field crops of winter wheat were rated as bad as they had been in 16 years. Only 32% of the stocks received the top rating "good to excellent". In the previous year, the proportion was 51% at the same time. Institutional investors yesterday bought 8,500 lots of CBoT SRW wheat. This morning the eCBoT is trading with other light serves. Wheat futures on Euronext in Paris benefited from the good overseas guidance and increased significantly on all dates. The weaker exchange rate of the euro against the US dollar gave the market an additional boost. Algeria's state grain purchaser OAIC is seeking 50,000 tons of wheat of optional origin for delivery in June as part of an international tender process.
At the cash market in Hamburg, the quotes for wheat with 12% protein for delivery in April rose to 5 euros over Paris May 18. The quotations for feed wheat in Südoldenburg for delivery in April are still higher, at 175 euros.
