US Plains hard red winter wheat basis bids held steady Wednesday amid routine business, with traders saying rains in the southern Plains were helping to boost growth of the crop.
"It's like someone painted everything green," a Kansas trader said. "It seems to have grown so much overnight. We had 2 to 3 inches of rain overnight."
Traders said rains also fell in Oklahoma. There were 2-1/2 inches of rain in the northern region, about 4 to 6 inches in the northeast and about 1/2 inch in the central-north area.
"We had about 1/2 inch of rain overnight," a trader in central-north Oklahoma said. "There's no rain forecast for today, but we could have some Thursday, Friday or Saturday," the trader added.
Rains in the southern Plains and their potential for boosting production this year was the talk among traders, overshadowing the slow pace of business in cash markets. "There isn't much grain for sale," a trader said, adding that demand from domestic millers was sluggish.
Futures prices at the Kansas City Board of Trade were expected to open 1 to 2 cents per bushel higher Wednesday in line with overnight gains. On Tuesday, May rose 4-1/2 cents to $4.83-1/2 per bushel and new-crop July advanced 4-1/4 cents to $4.87-1/4.