Bids for No. 1 Soft White Wheat for full November Portland delivery declined by 11 to 13 cents per bushel compared to last Thursday's noon bids for last half November. Here are a few of my thoughts. Take 'em if they make sense to you, leave 'em if not. The weekly PNW report gave one part of the explanation as to why the plummet in wheat futures prices. So the wheat market has been propped up by the corn market - nothing especially new there.
Wheat is a substitute for corn in feed markets when corn prices get out of line with wheat prices.
As you know, one of my favorite pastimes is to keep pointing at this very basic foundation of market fundamentals, supply and demand. USDA and most private forecasters predict supply, demand, and ending stocks, using June 1 as a beginning and the following May 31 as reference points. USDA revises their forecasts each month during the marketing year as more information is learned about US and World market and growing conditions. USDA and many private forecasters recently raised their world wheat production forecasts for this marketing year, which runs from June 1997 through May 1998. Demand for wheat was also forecast to be up this year.