The wheat market was on a rally train on Friday, as Chicago led the complex with 13 ½ to 17 ¼ cent gains. Kansas city tagged along on the bull fun, with contracts up 4 ¼  to 7 ¾ cents at the close. MPLS spring wheat contracts pushed 5 to 9 ¾ cents higher. 

The large managed money speculators in Chicago wheat futures and options added 9,835 contracts to their net short as of 4/16, taking it to 96,403 contracts. In Kansas City they were seen as nearing their record net long, adding 4,620 contracts as of Tuesday to 49,231 contracts. 

SovEcon’s projection for their Russian production total was down 1 MMT on Friday from the March estimate at 93 MMT. On Friday, Russia’s Ag Ministry announce they were raising the Russian wheat export tax by 6.4% to 3,443 ruble/MT (~$1/bu). India’s government wheat stocks are at a 16 year low for April 1 at 7.5 MMT, down 0.85 MMT from last year. 

May 24 CBOT Wheat  closed at $5.50 1/4, up 13 1/2 cents,

Jul 24 CBOT Wheat  closed at $5.66 3/4, up 13 3/4 cents,

May 24 KCBT Wheat  closed at $5.81 1/2, up 4 1/4 cents,

Jul 24 KCBT Wheat  closed at $5.83, up 7 3/4 cents,

Jul 24 MGEX Wheat  closed at $6.52 1/2, up 9 1/2 cents,