Milling & Baking News - November 25, 2003 - 33

I N G R E D I E N T

winter, has been on-again, off-again. In
the past couple of weeks, sales abroad
have been heavy. Export elevators, like
domestic wheat buyers, have been
plagued by terrible delays in receiving
rail wheat shipments. This has forced
them to reach deeply into more northerly
areas of the hard winter belt to draw spot
wheat supplies already "on wheels" in
order to stem vessels in port or en route.
Smaller mills with limited storage for
wheat were the most active in seeking
supplies last week. Most larger units
were able to limit buying in anticipation
of reduced operations during Thanksgiving week. But even they sought wheat on
Friday, when resellers owing them wheat
before the month's end could not guarantee meeting their commitments.
The ongoing rail logistical difficulties,
which have delayed delivery of wheat up
to three or even four weeks, continued to
provide underlying support to the entire
basis. While mills and other buyers have
adjusted remarkably well to the transportation difficulties, they have done so by
"double-buying" and juggling shipments
between plants. Mills often have had to
pay demurrage on rail cars outside the
plants on track because of earlier "doublebuying," and railroads often have had to
pay penalties on late deliveries.
Mills had withdrawn bids on to-arrive
wheat late the previous week because of
a lack of flour business. Merchandisers
expected mills to re-enter that market
soon as bakers begin to add more coverage for January-March.
Farmer selling slowed with the decline
in flat prices. But growers had liquidated
a good portion of their remaining crop
during the last price run-up.
Rain fell across the eastern half of Kansas, most of Oklahoma and key areas in
Texas. Westernmost areas again were
missed. Wheat condition across the Southwest was little changed from the week
before. Rated good to excellent on Nov.
16 was 54% of the Kansas crop (54% a week
earlier), with 31% fair; 53% in Oklahoma
(53%), with 29% fair; 32% in Texas (30%),
with 36% fair; 47% in Nebraska (51%) with
36% fair, and 37% in Colorado (35%) with
35% fair.
While soil moisture conditions across
the Southwest registered only fairly minor changes from the week before, extreme dryness persisted in western regions, particularly western Kansas.
HARD SPRING. Premiums on hard red
spring wheat at Minneapolis last week
were unchanged to 25c a bu higher on the
switch to the March as the basic future at
even money with the December. The basis reclaimed ground lost late the previous week.
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

Resellers seeking to cover commitments
to flour mills were active last week and
contributed to the market's stronger tone
following the buckling seen during the
previous week. Mills themselves were in
and out of the market. Ongoing delays in
rail shipments of wheat remained the principal prop to current basis levels. The Pacific Northwest successfully pulled cars
and provided competition to mills in the
Midwest and East seeking supplies.

W E E K

Farmer selling of wheat has subsided
with the downturn in flat prices. But
growers had been heavy sellers during
the recent price run-up.
The hard spring wheat inventory at
Duluth-Superior export elevators on Nov.
13 was low, at 13.4 million bus. Export elevators haven't been actively seeking rail
offers but were being supplied by truck.
At the same time, it was thought that with
the end of the Great Lakes shipping sea-

Kansas City Wheat Futures

No. 1 Hard Winter

December contract, $ per bu

Basis Kansas City Dec., cents per bu
Premium Week's Change Year ago
Ordinary
33 @43
+7 @+7
40@50
11%
40 @50
+8 @+8
40@50
11.2%
43 @53
+8 @+8
40@50
11.4%
46 @56
+6 @+6
40@50
11.6%
47 @57
+6 @+6
40@50
11.8%
48 @58
+6 @+6
35@45
12%
48 @58
+3 @+3
35@45
12.2%
49 @59
+3 @+3
35@45
12.4%
50 @60
+3 @+3
35@45
12.6%
51 @61
+3 @+3
35@45
12.8%
52 @62
+3 @+3
35@45
13%
53 @63
+3 @+3
35@45
13.2%
54 @64
+3 @+3
35@45
13.4%
55 @65
+3 @+3
35@45
13.6%
56 @66
+3 @+3
35@45
13.8%
56 @66
+1 @+1
35@45
14%
57 @67
-
34@44

Kansas City Wheat Futures
March contract, $ per bu

No. 1 Hard Spring, Minneapolis
Milling quality, basis March, cents per bu
Premium Week's Change Year ago
Ordinary
...
...
...
11%
...
...
...
12%
...
...
...
13%
45 @ 55
+5 @ +15
...
14%
55 @ 65
+15 @ +25
50 @ 65
14.5%
...
...
...
15%
85 @ 110
+5 @ 0
50 @ 65
16%
...
...
...
17%
...
...
...

Wheat Futures
No. 1 Hard Amber Durum

$ per bu
Week's
change
Nov. 21 (cents) High
Kansas City
December 3.841/4
-9 3.921/2
March
3.891/2
-12 4.001/2
May
3.811/2 -133/4 3.961/2
July
3.593/4 -121/4 3.73
September 3.62
-11 3.76
Chicago
December 3.831/4 -221/4 4.04
March
3.961/4 -193/4 4.15
May
3.86
-181/2 4.09
July
3.541/2
-12 3.691/2
September 3.581/2 -111/2 3.71
Minneapolis
December 3.971/2 -31/2 4.00
March
4.03
+31/4 4.05
May
4.033/4 +43/4 4.05
July
3.86
-61/2 3.91
September 3.69
+1 3.71

Track, $ per bu
Low

Year
ago

3.60
3.69
3.69
3.49
3.53

4.241/4
4.151/2
3.921/2
3.53
3.511/2

3.61
3.74
3.74
3.47
3.53

3.733/4
3.76
3.57
3.181/2
3.23

3.661/2
3.68
3.693/4
3.70
3.60

4.31
4.363/4
4.31
4.123/4
3.801/4

Choice milling

Nov. 21
5.00

Week's
change
-

Year
ago
6.10

Exporter bids and offers
No. 1 Hard 11%, Track Gulf
Basis Kansas City future, cents per bu
For shipment
Bid
Offer
Year ago bid
November
70 over Dec.
... 54 over Dec.
December
70 over Dec.
... 57 over Dec.
January
62 over March 70 61 over March

No. 2 Soft Red, c.i.f. New Orleans
Basis Chicago future, cents per bu
For shipment
Bid
Offer
Year ago bid
November
57 over Dec.
... 50 over Dec.
December
57 over Dec.
59 48 over Dec.
January
44 over March 50 47 over March

Milling & Baking News, November 25, 2003 / 33

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Milling & Baking News - November 25, 2003

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