Spot basis offers for hard red winter wheat were holding steady Friday as merchants kept an eye on the weather and continued trying to seed new-crop wheat. The basis was 2 cents a bushel weaker in Catoosa, Oklahoma, but otherwise unchanged.
Crop experts late Thursday said rain was needed in some key areas of the US Great Plains hard red winter wheat region, including the top three producing states of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. But Meteorlogix said it appeared rainfall associated with Hurricane Rita would not reach into the wheat areas of the United States.
Hurricane Rita was on track to hit the Texas Gulf Coast and could interrupt exports trade, traders said. The storm was projected to make landfall early Saturday.
Meanwhile, Informa Economics on Thursday forecast 2005 US wheat production at 2.114 billion bushels, below USDA's forecast in August for 2.17 billion. The USDA will release its updated estimate in its annual small grains summary on Friday, September 30.