CBOT wheat closes sharply lower on spillover pressure from corn
DBA•CBOT wheat futures fell sharply Wednesday, with December soft red winter wheat settling down 17 cents at $6.75-3/4 per bushel after reaching a more than six-week low. The USDA reported 1.846 billion bushels of wheat in storage on September 1, below analysts’ 1.872-billion-bushel estimate.
1. Wheat futures decline
CBOT wheat futures closed sharply lower Wednesday, pressured by a decline in corn after the USDA estimated quarterly U.S. corn stocks above market expectations. December soft red winter wheat settled down 17 cents at $6.75-3/4 per bushel after touching $6.73-1/4, its lowest level since August 14. K.C. December hard red winter wheat fell 10 cents to $7.33, and Minneapolis December spring wheat lost 6 cents to $6.93-1/4.
2. Stocks and harvest estimates
The USDA reported that farmers and grain handlers held 1.846 billion bushels of wheat on September 1, down from 2.134 billion a year earlier and below analysts’ 1.872-billion-bushel estimate. The agency estimated this year’s wheat harvest at 1.534 billion bushels, up from its previous estimate of 1.531 billion and above analysts’ 1.524-billion-bushel forecast.
3. Other supply developments
Consultancy Sovecon cut its Russian wheat export forecast for the season by 4.7 million tons to 36.7 million tons, citing its expectation that normal port operations in the Azov-Black Sea region will resume no earlier than 2027. U.S. farmers are off to a slower start planting the winter wheat crop they will harvest in 2027.
