Portland Grain Review 03/26

March 26, 2020 Portland Price Trends 03-01-19 08-01-19 02-01-20 03-19-20 03-26-20 #1 SWW (bu) 6.10 5.90 6.25 5.95 6.15 White Club 6.10 5.90 7.75 7.45 7.65 DNS 14% 6.68 5.98 7.08 6.95 7.10 HRW 11.5% 6.00 5.36 6.17 6.15 6.49 #2 Corn (ton) 180.00 170.00 175.00 161.00 158.00 #2 Barley 140.00 140.00 140.00 135.00 135.00 Wheat...West coast wheat markets reflected the impact improved demand on the domestic and export fronts over the past week, following the wheat futures complex higher. Hard red winter has been the primary beneficiary, with basis strengthening and cash bids at marketing year highs. Weekly Sales...USDA reported a surge in U.S. wheat export demand over the past week, primarily on the shoulders of the large Chinese purchase. Weekly sales came in at 27.2 mb to put year-to-date commitments at 908 mb, which sets 5% ahead of a year ago and 8% above the five-year average pace. Hard red winter registered a marketing year high of 13.6 mb for new sales, placing current year export commitments at 340 mb; 11% ahead of a year ago and 14% above average. Hard red spring garnered 6.2 mb and with 267 mb in the books, sets 12% ahead of a year ago and 5% above the five-year pace. Soft white also had a good week with 4.5 mb, which puts commitments at 181 mb; 4% below a year ago but 10% ahead of average. Top Buyers..China returned to the U.S. wheat market in a big way with 7.4 mb in old crop hard red winter purchases. Following that on the list of buyers was South Korea with 5.4 mb, Japan at 5.3 mb, Mexico with 2.3 mb and Indonesia with 1.9 mb. -Norm Ruhoff Contributing Analyst Copyright 2020 DTN/Telvent. All Rights Reserved.