Portland Grain Review 09/24

September 24, 2015 Portland Price Trends 09-01-14 01-01-15 08-01-15 09-17-15 09-24-15 #1 SWW (bu) 7.10 6.97 5.70 5.50 5.60 White Club 9.35 9.47 6.45 7.30 7.40 DNS 14% 7.68 8.27 5.64 6.40 6.54 HRW 11.5% 8.80 7.31 6.22 5.89 6.00 #2 Corn (ton) 178.00 195.00 159.00 161.00 166.00 #2 Barley 165.00 170.00 160.00 155.00 155.00 Wheat...Firm basis levels and a mid-week spike in futures provided a bit of trading activity this week, but farm selling remains subdued at current price levels. Hard red spring wheat basis firmed to 140 over as exporters work to cover recent demand, hard red winter held at 110 over and flat bid through December; while soft white was the defender against a higher Chicago market with basis dipping about a nickel to 65 over. Weekly Sales...USDA reported another week of less than stellar demand for US wheat, coming in at 10.4 mb for all wheat to put the year-to-date tally at 405 mb and 14% behind a year ago. Top buyers were Japan and the Philippines. Sales by class showed hard red spring was top seller with a 6 mb total that included 2 mb for China. All other classes came in near the 1 mb mark, with white wheat securing 1.8 mb to put sales at 71 mb on the year and 7% below a year ago. Stocks-to-Use: Current USDA projections put white wheat production at 238 mb, up 6% from last year but 11% below the 5-year average. Demand is also expected to increase, with the lowest exports since 2008 offset by a 50% increase in domestic demand from last year. As a result, stocks of soft white are expected to hold in line with last year near 68 mb, which has soft white being the only class of wheat expected to show a decline in the stocks-use ratio from last year; a modest 3% decrease to 28%. -Norm Ruhoff Contributing Analyst Copyright 2015 DTN/Telvent. All Rights Reserved.