Afternoon wheat: Better than expected export sales gives trade a minor boost
<div class=\"default-font-wrapper\" style=\"line-height: 1;font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\"><p id=\"isPasted\" style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><strong><em><u><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;color:red;\'>Futures:</span></u></em></strong></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'>Chicago March wheat futures battled both sides of unchanged through the night, and that trend carried over to the start of the day. However, a mid-morning surge took trade into new intra-day highs, and futures raced out to six-cent gains. The rally slowed as trade neared $5.50, but instead of setting back, price action levelled off, which enabled the market to hold those gains through the close. </span><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'>March KC wheat saw lower trade through the night, with futures slipping to six cents lower before firming into the morning break and finishing only a penny lower. The early part of the day saw the market struggle again, but like with Chicago, a mid-morning surge took trade to new intra-day highs, which in turn triggered additional buying which rallied trade to five higher. The market set back a bit into the close, but still finished three higher. </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'> </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><strong><em><u><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;color:red;\'>Headline news:</span></u></em></strong><span style=\"color:black;\"> </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'>Wheat sales came in at 612,400 mt (22.501 mil bu), with an additional 12,600 mt of new crop business, for combined sales of 625 TMT. The breakdown included HRW sales of 196,800 mt (and the 12,600 mt of new crop business that went to Mexico), SRW sales of 24,700 mt, HRS sales of 114,100 mt, White sales of 259,100 mt and Durum sales of 18,000 mt (Italy). </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'> </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'>The BAGE notes that 88.5% of Argentina’s wheat harvest is complete. They maintain a production estimate of 18.6 MMT. </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'> </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'>Turkey annual crop production stats for 2024 showed wheat production declining 5.5% year over year to 20.8 MMT. </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'> </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'>The CFTC report, usually released on Friday afternoons, will be delayed one day this week and be released on Monday afternoon because of the Christmas Holiday.</span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'> </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;\'><strong><em><u><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;color:red;\'>Export business around this week:</span></u></em></strong><span style=\"color:black;\"> </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'>Egypt's Mostakbal Misr is thought to have purchased upwards of 1.267 MMT of wheat, thought to be mostly of Russian origin. The purchase was said to satisfy the country's wheat needs through the end of June and will likely eliminate the need for additional purchases in the upcoming period.</span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'> </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'>Ukraine's President claimed they have sent their first volume of food aid to Syria, including 500 metric tons of wheat flour in cooperation with the United Nations world food program.</span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'> </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'>Algeria is now thought to have bought upwards of 1.17 MMT of milling wheat (including French, Romanian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and Russian wheat) in their tender that closed over the Christmas Holiday. Prices were thought to have ranged between $257 and $258/mt C&F. In their prior tender in late Oct, bought around 600 TMT, paying roughly $263/mt C&F. </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'> </span></p><p style=\'margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;text-align:justify;\'><span style=\'font-family:\"Arial\",sans-serif;\'>Bangladesh is in for milling wheat. They have several tenders still open. No purchase has been finalized and may take considerable time before purchases can be confirmed.</span></p></div>