Protein Wheat Differentials Widening By The Day

Demand for higher protein hard wheats continue to widen the differentials between Kansas City and Minneapolis wheat contracts compared with Chicago.

At the beginning of the year front month CBOT wheat was trading at a 7 cent premium to Kansas City wheat and a discount of just 3 cents to Minneapolis wheat.

Based on last night's closes Kansas City wheat is now running at a premium of more than 30 cents over CBOT, with Minneapolis commanding a premium of more than 75 cents.

A return to warm and dry weather in the Southern Plains should see the wheat harvest resume in northern Oklahoma and push into southern Kansas this weekend. Texas and Oklahoma yields have been good but protein levels have been a bit disappointing, what lies ahead in Kansas? With stripe rust having been a real problem in the largest wheat state in the US, it's possible that both yields and proteins will disappoint.

And then of course there's Canada...