Portland Grain Review 04/28

April 28, 2016 Portland Price Trends 04-01-15 08-01-15 03-01-16 04-21-16 04-28-16 #1 SWW (bu) 6.87 5.67 4.90 5.32 5.28 White Club 9.37 6.42 5.10 5.62 5.48 DNS 14% 9.12 6.19 5.95 6.28 6.27 HRW 11.5% 7.04 5.60 5.34 5.73 5.49 #2 Corn (ton) 171.00 160.00 153.00 165.00 166.00 #2 Barley 160.00 159.00 145.00 140.00 145.00 Wheat...Lower prices and a weaker dollar over the past week helped to generate a decent week of demand for U.S. wheat, and a recovery across the futures complex helped west coast wheat prices gain back ground this week. Weaker basis levels from week to week were a reflection of the rolling to July futures. Country traders are reporting heavy volumes of old crop were priced on last week's rally. Basis...West coast wheat basis levels remain reflective of the slowed pace of demand this year, with all three primary classes of wheat trading below respective ten-year averages for late April. white wheat at a basis of 43 over Chicago stands a dime under average and hard red winter 11.5% pro at plus 85 to Kansas City is 15 cents below average. Hard red spring wheat basis is trading well below average at 85 over Minneapolis futures; half of average a more than a standard deviation below the late April mean. Export Sales...USDA reported a surprisingly good week of demand for US wheat over the past week, coming in above trade expectations at nearly 13 mb. Year-to-date sales stand at 734 mb, 14% behind a year ago versus USDA projections for finishing the year down 9%. Hard red winter was the top seller for the week with 5.3 mb and now sets 22% behind a year ago; hard red spring booked 4.1 mb and is down 13% from a year ago; and white wheat registered another 2.1 mb to put current sales 3% behind a year ago. Top buyers for the week was Mexico, accounting for 4.4 mb, following by Japan, Taiwan and Colombia. New crop sales were at 16.7 mb for the week, putting total sales at 88 mb compared to 90 mb at this time last year. -Norm Ruhoff Extension Economist University of Idaho CALS-AERS Copyright 2016 DTN/Telvent. All Rights Reserved.