The divide in the US cropping states is widening. The latest weather map picks some better weather for corn and soybeans while the hot, dry weather is expected to persist across the northern plains and SW Saskatchewan.
As a result corn and bean futures at Chicago drifted lower dragging soft and hard red winter wheat lower while spring wheat futures ran their own race to close higher.
PDQ pegged 1CWAD13 durum in SW Saskatchewan flat to firmer at C$275.77 / tonne for August and C$272.70 / tonne for January. A back of the envelope calculation would see these values equate to roughly AUD$370 NTP NTL, so around +$10 on current bids, that’s the smallest gap we’ve seen in some time. Some wires report durum has spiked as high as C$294/tonne in parts of Sask.
Parts of eastern Montana have been declared a disaster zone due to drought and prolonged heat. Many wheat crops in E.Montana and NW N.Dakota are now being baled for livestock feed.
The US crop progress report was out after the close, corn and beans shed 1% in the G/E rating. Winter wheat is 75% harvested. Spring wheat is back another 1% to 34% G/E and 41% Poor to Very Poor, with 95% now in head, rain now will do little more than damage what spring wheat and durum is there.