US Plains hard red winter wheat basis values were holding steady on Monday, with mill demand underpinning values. Wet and cool weather in the US Plains was slowing crop development. Frost warnings for Monday night posed concerns, though no significant damage was expected.
Protein premiums for railcar wheat to and through Kansas City were steady, other than a 5-cent jump for 11.20 percent protein wheat. Futures prices at the Kansas City Board of Trade were expected to open 10-12 cents higher on Monday after higher overnight trade amid strength seen in corn prices.
The KCBT May ended Friday down 8-1/2 cents at $8.55 per bushel, a decline of more than 35 percent over the last six weeks, while new-crop July ended down 17-1/2 cents at $8.51-1/2. In news of note: Egypt's trade minister has said he will discuss buying 1 million tonnes of French wheat during a visit to Paris on Tuesday, a newspaper has reported.
India has bought 12.6 million tonnes of new season wheat from local farmers, strongly up from 7.63 million tonnes procured during the year-ago period, the government said in a statement on Monday. Iraq's state grain board has issued a new tender to buy at least 50,000 tonnes of hard wheat of any origin, officials said on Saturday. The bidding deadline was May 3.