After midday losses, front month Chicago wheat closed the last trade day of the week 2 3/4 to 5 1/2 cents stronger. KC futures maintained the high ground closing up by at least 4 1/4 cents. MGE wheat closed the session 2 3/4 to 4 cents in the black. The weekly Commitment of Traders report showed an 8,223 contract reduction to managed money’s SRW net long. Spec trader OI increased by 343 contracts on the week, leaving the group 16,987 contracts long on net as of 1/12. In KC wheat, spec traders were just 605 contracts more net long to 55,062. CoT report data had managed money funds net long 11,797 contracts in HRS wheat. That was 4,049 contracts more net long for the largest net shift wk/wk in 12 weeks (when the group flipped from net short to net long). IGC sees 1 MMT less of world wheat production, forecasting 768 MMT. Wheat stocks were reduced 1 million as well, to 294 MMT. Russia announced discussions to extend the export tax through the next crop cycle, that follows a recent decision to raise it from 25 Euros/tonne to 50 Euros/tonne for the March 1-June 30 time period.
| Mar 21 CBOT Wheat closed at $6.75 1/2, up 5 1/2 cents, |
| Mar 21 KCBT Wheat closed at $6.43, up 6 1/2 cents, |
| Mar 21 MGEX Wheat closed at $6.43 1/4, up 2 3/4 cents, |
--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management
