US futures are showing further downside on the winter wheat products. Winter wheat is in the middle of being harvested. Spring wheat futures contracts are finding a little strength from dry weather in the west.
In N.Dakota around 93% of the spring wheat crop and 94% of the expected durum crop has now emerged. Some of the earliest spring wheat in N.Dakota is starting to throw a head up while in S.Dakota around 20% of the wheat crop is now in head. N.Dakota spring wheat is rated 78% Good / Excellent while the ND durum crop is 73% G/E. Last week spring wheat was rated 84% G/E. This week’s lower rating created some support at the MGEX. Western North Dakota and parts of eastern Montana continue to be abnormally dry, with some parts recording as little as 20% of average rainfall for this time of year.
US corn and soybean futures found speculative support with most punters expecting to see increased export sales in tomorrow’s report.

Russian officials have projected a new season wheat crop of just over 75mt, that takes the current range out there from about 75mt to 83mt, that’s a pretty big variation. Private estimates out of Russia continue to suggest official figures are way too low. Still in the Black Sea region we see Ukraine are projecting a wheat harvest of around 23mt, well back on last year’s 28.3mt. Some are saying dry weather has been a problem but 30 days rainfall maps would tend to deflate that argument. Ukraine was dry at sowing and for much of the winter hence the smaller crop but saw an ideal spring, it is a little dry at present but with wheat harvest underway that is not a bad thing.