October 3, 2022

US wheat harvest smaller than projections

The US government said wheat harvest in the country was smaller than previously projected due to dry soils that caused heavy crop abandonment, Reuters reported.

Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade rose 3% to their highest level since July 11 as traders modified their positions to reflect the revised production forecast.

Tomm Pfitzenmaier, an analyst for Summit Commodity Brokerage, said people have been complaining about the wheat crop all summer and really into the fall, adding that they didn't want to believe it was that bad, but this is confirmation of what everyone has been saying.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, wheat stocks are still slightly higher than they were a year ago, but supplies are still scarce at a time when buyers are scrambling to find grain due to disruptions in exports brought on by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The USDA's Small Grains Summary report showed that the country's wheat crop totaled 1.650 billion bushels. 1.778 billion bushels were predicted by the market to be produced, on average, according to a Reuters poll of analyst estimates. In August, the government predicted that 1.783 billion bushels of wheat would have been produced.

The USDA's Quarterly Stocks report showed domestic wheat stocks were 1.776 billion bushels as of September 1. This was higher than the 1.774 billion bushels from the previous year and in line with trade predictions.

-      Reuters