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))