Cash bids for hard red winter wheat in the US Plains were steady to weaker Friday amid active farmer sales and a weaker tone at the Gulf export channel. Merchants said farmer selling remained strong due to advances in futures prices at the Kansas City Board of Trade where the benchmark September hard red winter wheat contract closed up 33-1/4 cents at $6.05-3/4 a bushel on Thursday.
The run-up in futures prices is tied to drought in Europe, which is driving hopes for increased demand for US wheat. Plains Grains Inc, a growers' group for the central US Plains, reported that harvest was rolling well and nearly completed through south-eastern and south-central Nebraska, and about 20 percent done in the western Nebraska Panhandle area, with combining as well in South Dakota. Plains Grains said average wheat protein was 11.9 percent though still highly variable. Storage for wheat harvest was reported tight.