US Plains HRW Wheat-Basis bids mostly flat, futures set two-month high

CHICAGO, June 20 (Reuters) - Spot basis bids for hard red winter (HRW) wheat were mostly unchanged at elevators and mills around the southern U.S. Plains on Friday, dealers said, as futures prices reached a two-month high.

• The uptick in prices helped to encourage farmers to sell their crops as harvesting is underway, dealers said.

• With prices hovering around $5 per bushel, farmers have reached an inflection point, with many forced to either lose money, feed wheat to cattle or kill off the crop.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture is slated to issue an update on harvesting in a weekly report on Monday, after rains recently delayed farmers' progress.

• The U.S. winter wheat harvest was 10% complete as of June 15, below the five-year average of 16%, USDA data show.

• U.S. export sales of hard red winter wheat were 127,429 metric tons in the week that ended on June 12, down about 20% from the previous week, the USDA said separately.

• Chicago Board of Trade July K.C. HRW wheat KWN25 futures were 5 cents lower at $5.66-1/4 a bushel around 12:40 p.m. CDT (1740 GMT).

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