US Plains HRW Wheat-Basis bids mostly steady after scattered farmer sales

CHICAGO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Basis bids for hard red winter wheat held mostly steady in the southern U.S. Plains on Thursday, capped by scattered farmer sales after K.C. wheat futures hovered near two-month highs, brokers said.

• Milder weather is expected in the Plains after a winter storm hit the wheat belt over the weekend, dumping snow and ice that snarled grain deliveries while benefiting dormant wheat crops.

• High U.S. HRW prices relative to rival suppliers dented demand from global importers. Buyers, however, were monitoring potentially crop-damaging cold in the Black Sea region.

• Extremely cold weather, with temperatures down to minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit), will hit Ukraine at the beginning of next week, which is very dangerous for winter crops, agricultural analysts and the national emergency service said on Thursday.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture said net export sales of all U.S. wheat in the week ended January 22 dipped to 558,201 metric tons, down from a nine-week high in the previous week but in line with trade estimates.

• K.C. March HRW wheat futures KWH26 climbed to a fresh two-month peak of $5.49 a bushel on Thursday. The actively traded contract was up 2-3/4 cents near midday at $5.45 a 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. FOB Gulf Grain GRA/F