US Plains HRW Wheat-Basis steady-firm; USDA lowers plantings estimate

CHICAGO, March 31 (Reuters) - Spot basis bids for hard red winter wheat were steady to firmer in the southern U.S. Plains on Monday while K.C. wheat futures bounced on smaller-than-expected wheat acreage figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, dealers said.

The USDA lowered its estimate of U.S. winter wheat plantings for harvest in 2025 to 33.315 million acres, down from its initial January figure of 34.115 million acres.

By state, the USDA pegged Kansas winter wheat seedings at 7.3 million acres, down 4% from a year ago, and Oklahoma seedings at 4.150 million acres, down 5%. Planted wheat acreage in Texas was steady with a year earlier, at 5.5 million acres.

The USDA's forecasts of spring wheat and total U.S. wheat acreage also fell below most analysts' expectations, lifting wheat futures. K.C. May hard red winter wheat futures KWK25 settled up 5-1/4 cents at $5.57 per bushel. WHE/C

In weekly state crop reports released late on Monday, the USDA rated 49% of the Kansas wheat crop as "good to excellent," unchanged from the previous week. But the USDA rated 33% of Oklahoma's winter wheat and 26% of the Texas crop as "good to excellent," down from 37% and 31% the prior week, respectively.

The government is scheduled to resume regular weekly national crop progress reports on April 7.

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. FOB Gulf Grain GRA/F