Hard red winter wheat basis bids were steady to firmer Thursday in a mostly quiet market. The basis was a nickel a bushel firmer in Enid, Oklahoma, and a dime firmer in Catoosa, Oklahoma, but unchanged in several other US Plains locations.
Protein premiums on railcar hard red winter wheat to and through Kansas City rose 1 cent a bushel for 11.60 percent protein wheat supplies and were unchanged otherwise. Kansas City Board of Trade HRW wheat futures ended lower on Tuesday, with the May down 5 cents at $8.62.
USDA said Thursday that weekly export sales of US wheat totaled 271,500 tonnes for the 2010/11 marketing year. Net sales for 2011/12 totaled 138,000 tonnes. In its plantings report, USDA said US farmers will plant 58 million acres of wheat this year, 8.2 percent higher than last year.
US farmers told USDA they will plant 5 percent more spring wheat acres for a total of 14.427 million acres. They have already planted 10 percent more winter wheat than a year ago, the USDA said, pegging winter wheat plantings at 41.229 million acres. USDA also reported US wheat stocks were 1.425 billion bushels on March 1, 1.8 percent higher than analyst expectations.