April 25, 2026 — Wheat futures closed lower across winter wheat contracts on Thursday, with spring wheat bucking the trend. Profit-taking trimmed recent gains after a strong week.
Chicago and Kansas City Wheat Decline
Chicago SRW futures settled steady to 3 ½ cents lower. May contracts still gained 17 cents for the week. Kansas City HRW futures fell 5 ¼ to 10 cents on the session. May KCBT contracts held a weekly gain of 22 ¼ cents.
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Minneapolis spring wheat rose 1 ½ to 4 ½ cents on Thursday. Weekly gains reached 22 ¾ cents.
Weather and Crop Conditions
NOAA’s 7-day precipitation forecast shifted some rainfall toward western Kansas and parts of Oklahoma and Texas. This could ease dryness concerns in those regions.
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In France, the soft wheat crop rated Good/Excellent at 83%, according to FranceAgriMer. That marked a drop of 1 percentage point from the prior week.
Managed Money Positions Shift
Managed money in Chicago wheat futures and options added 3,451 contracts to their net short position in the week ending April 21. That brought the net short to 10,717 contracts.
In Kansas City wheat, speculators added 11,085 contracts to their net long position, taking it to 28,009 contracts as of Tuesday.
Export Data and Global Supply
Weekly export sales data from Thursday showed total commitments at 24.67 million metric tons. That is 15% above the same period last year. It represents 101% of the USDA export projection, near the 102% five-year average.
IKAR, a Russian consultancy, estimated the Russian wheat crop at 90 million metric tons. That is a 1 million ton drop from their previous estimate.
Saudi Arabia issued a tender to buy 710,000 metric tons of wheat, with a deadline set for Friday.
Closing Prices
- May 26 CBOT Wheat: $6.08 ¼, down 2 ½ cents
- Jul 26 CBOT Wheat: $6.16 ¾, down 3 ½ cents
- May 26 KCBT Wheat: $6.59, down 7 ¾ cents
- Jul 26 KCBT Wheat: $6.69 ¾, down 9 ½ cents
- May 26 MIAX Wheat: $6.76, up 1 ½ cents
- Jul 26 MIAX Wheat: $6.93 ¼, up 1 ¾ cents
Data for this article was sourced from Barchart. The author did not hold positions in any mentioned securities.
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