Cash bids for hard red winter wheat held mostly steady in the southern US Plains on Tuesday, supported by an absence of country selling as producers awaited a better sense of crop prospects, dealers said. The Gulf track basis firmed by 2 cents, to $1.30 over the Kansas City Board of Trade May futures contract.
Wheat in the Plains has struggled with repeated bouts of freezing temperatures and producers are likely to abandon the hardest-hit fields, dealers said. Another cold snap was expected early on Wednesday, with temperatures forecast to drop into the low 20s (degrees Fahrenheit) in north-west Texas and western Oklahoma, and in the mid-teens F in west central Kansas.
However, snow fell in the west-central Plains, bringing much-needed moisture. Goodland, Kansas, received 6 inches (15 cm) of snow in the last day. The USDA late Monday said 35 percent of the US winter wheat crop was rated in good to excellent condition, down from 36 percent a week earlier. The Kansas crop was rated 30 percent good to excellent, unchanged from the previous week, while 27 percent of the Oklahoma crop was rated good to excellent, up from 25 percent a week earlier.
Wheat industry experts will tour wheat fields throughout top producer Kansas, and parts of Oklahoma, Nebraska and Colorado in the first week of May to gauge production potential. As of 9:36 am CDT (1436 GMT), Kansas City Board of Trade May wheat futures were down 2-1/2 cents at $7.37 per bushel after settling Monday at $7.39-1/2. KCBT July settled Monday at $7.42-1/2.
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