US Plains hard red winter wheat basis bids were mostly steady on Friday, but values at the Kansas City market slumped amid increased supplies. "They are just following the others," a trader said, referring to declines in basis values in other Kansas markets, especially in the western part of the top wheat state.
"Western Kansas had a pretty good crop," she added. The crops in parts of Oklahoma and Texas were damaged by a freeze in spring and wet weather later. The harvest is nearing completion in most parts of the Southern Plains.
Some farmers were not expected to harvest their crop due to the damage, traders said, adding that the farmers would likely face difficulty in getting seed wheat for fall plantings. "People are scrambling for seed wheat," an Oklahoma trader said. In export news, Iraq issued a tender to buy 50,000 tonnes of hard wheat. The bidding deadline was set for July 17.
Bunge Alimentos, the Brazilian unit of grain company Bunge, said on Thursday it planned to import more US or Canadian wheat this year due to tight domestic supplies. US Agriculture Department data showed that Brazil has purchased 75,000 tonnes of US wheat this season, which began June 1.