US Plains HRW Wheat-Basis bids steady as farmer sales continued at slower pace

By Bageshri Banerjee

CHICAGO, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Basis bids for hard red winter wheat were unchanged in a spot check of locations in the U.S. Plains on Wednesday as farmer sales dropped off somewhat but remained active, according to dealers.

* Merchants said trade was less busy than it had been earlier in the week, but farmers were still more engaged than they were at the end of 2024.

* Protein premiums for HRW wheat shipped by rail to or through Kansas City were unchanged. KCBT/SCA

* Dry weather is expected to persist in the next two weeks in the Southern Plains but the wheat crop is mostly dormant, according to Commodity Weather Group.

* The Chicago Board of Trade K.C. March wheat contract KWH25 ended down 3-1/4 cents to $5.57-1/2 per bushel.

Basis values are quoted against futures in cts/bu:

NOTES:

H = March, K = May, N = July, U = September

Z = December; UNQ = Unquoted bids

0 = Sp Option price; NC = No comparison

* = No. 1 12% hard winter wheat, rail bids

** = Ordinary protein, rail bids

LINKS:

* K.C. HRW wheat protein scales KCBT/SCA

* U.S. weekly wheat crop progress US/WHE

* U.S. forward basis WHEAT/BASIS

* U.S. Midwest cash grain PM GRA/PM

* U.S. CIF Gulf Grain GRA/C

* U.S. FOB Gulf Grain GRA/F

(Reporting by Renee Hickman; Editing by Mark Porter)

((renee.hickman@thomsonreuters.com))