06/07/05 Harvest pressure on wheat

Marketline June 7, 2005 A rally in corn and soybeans helped wheat futures in the early going Monday but when that fizzled so did wheat prices. Among the bearish factors; rapid harvest progress is expected in Oklahoma this week, Egypt purchased 120-thousand tons of Australian wheat over the weekend and India sees a normal monsoon season. It's still dry in eastern Australia though. Gary Hofer of Gary Hofer Commodities, says after the close USDA reported the U.S. winter wheat crop condition had stabilized from last week. Hofer: "All the Pacific Northwest states decline just a tad, Washington from 76% good to excellent last week down to 74% this week. Oregon from 57 down to 51 and Idaho down two percent to a still powerful 95% good to excellent rating. Spring wheat on average in the country is rated 78% good to excellent. These numbers do not reflect a starving market." On Monday Chicago July wheat was down 3/4 of a cent at 3-22 ½. July corn up 2 ½ at 2-20 3/4. Portland cash white wheat steady to a penny lower at mostly 3-90. New crop August 3-79. Club wheat 3-96. PNW HRW 11.5 percent protein lower at 4-04. Dark northern spring 14% protein lower at 5-03. Export barley 102 dollars a ton. Cattle futures were higher Monday. An uptick in beef cutout values helped give contracts a positive start to the week. Reports are also that feedlot showlists will be a little smaller in Texas this week. Aug live cattle up 15 cents at 83-58. Aug feeders up 115 at 113-25. July Class III milk up a dime at 14-40. I'm Bob Hoff and that's Marketline on the Northwest Ag Information Network.