Spring wheat futures at Minneapolis closed in the black, unlike both soft red and hard red winter wheat at Chicago. The dry weather across the US spring wheat belt and Canadian prairies is helping to provide strength in the higher grade wheats and potentially the durum.
Cash bids across SW Saskatchewan followed futures higher, gaining about C$4.00/tonne for a Dec21 lift. Durum values were flat to firmer. Durum bids in SW Sask have not tracked spring wheat movement dollar for dollar during the last month of volatility. It may take another month or so for durum to truly reflect the conditions in SE Saskatchewan and N.Dakota.
With the oilseed market taking back some of yesterday’s gains we also saw canola cash bids across the Canadian prairies shed a few dollars. Although local prices here yesterday were sharply higher the trade did manage to take away quite a few dollars of basis from the cash market. New crop basis slipping back to -$22. An $8 decline in new crop basis from Thursday.

Sovecon lowered their estimate for the 2021 Russian wheat crop. Less than ideal planting conditions for spring wheat and a higher than expected winter kill in the winter wheat contributed to the decline. The May estimate of 80.9mt is 800kt lower than the previous estimate. The next few weeks will be crucial for the final outcome of the Russian wheat crop. Larger spring wheat acres may not produce as much as expected due to the current dry spell. Helping to counter the larger than normal winter kill is the better yield expectations of the crops that pulled through. If things get tougher those yield expectations may be reduced. Russian wheat tax for June wk1 US$28 (currently US$61).