Spot basis bids were flat for hard red winter wheat in the southern US Plains on Friday as the early phases of the harvest advanced, grain merchants said. The HRW harvest was roughly 20 percent complete in Texas and 3 percent complete in Oklahoma, according to a weekly report from Plains Grains Inc, a wheat industry group. Fieldwork activity picked up after showers stalled progress in the first half of the week.
Plains Grains reported wide-ranging yields between 20 and 40 bushels per acre, and test weights from 59 to 65 lbs per bushel. Tests of the first 14 wheat samples, out of more than 500 expected over the course of the harvest, put average protein at 10.6 percent, below last year's final average of 11.2 percent. "This is a very small number of early samples that may or may not reflect the overall crop," the report said.
Premiums for 12 percent protein wheat shipped to or through Kansas City fell 5 cents per bushel while premiums were unchanged for most other protein classes, the CME Group said on Thursday. K.C. July HRW wheat futures were up 7 cents to $4.37-1/4 per bushel at 10:47 am CDT (1547 GMT).