US Plains hard red winter wheat basis bids were mostly steady on Friday, with a better-than-expected Kansas crop likely to weigh prices. An industry-organised tour of Kansas wheat fields on Thursday estimated the state's crop at 392.7 million bushels, up from the tour's 2006 estimate of 319.2 million.
The Wheat Quality Council's projection for the 2007 crop in the top wheat producing state seem to indicate that damage from freezing weather over the Easter weekend was not as severe as had been expected by some agronomists and farmers. "It's a large crop," an Oklahoma trader said of the crop tour estimate, which pegged the average yield at 41 bushels per acre, compared with 37.3 bushels estimated in 2006.
Harvest of the HRW wheat crop will kick off by the end of May in some Plains states, traders said, adding that prices will come under pressure as supplies enter the market. Futures prices at the Kansas City Board of Trade were called to open 1 to 2 cents lower on Friday amid pressure from the crop tour's production forecast. The May contract ended Thursday down 3-1/2 cents at $4.72-1/2 and new-crop July fell 1-3/4 cents to $4.83.
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