The wheat complex came under pressure across all three futures markets heading into the weekend. Chicago soft red winter contracts fell 8¼ to 16¼ cents, with December losing 6½ cents for the week. Kansas City hard red winter futures declined 10 to 20¼ cents, while December finished 8¾ cents lower week over week. Minneapolis spring wheat contracts dropped 12½ to 20¼ cents, although December was little changed for the week.
As expected, the USDA left its U.S. wheat production estimate unchanged this month while awaiting the Small Grains Summary scheduled for September 30. The rest of the domestic balance sheet was also unchanged, with U.S. ending stocks holding at 717 million bushels.
Globally, the USDA raised ending stocks by 3.04 million metric tons to 276.29 MMT. The adjustment came as Russian and Ukrainian exports were reduced by a combined 4 MMT, while Australian production increased by 3 MMT and Canadian output rose by 1 MMT.
The Export Sales report, delayed by Monday’s holiday, showed 2026/27 U.S. wheat sales of 194,233 metric tons for the week ending September 3. That missed trade expectations of 250,000 to 500,000 tons and was 37.64% below the previous reporting period and 36.39% lower than the comparable week a year earlier.
Weekly CFTC data showed managed-money traders reducing their net-long positions in Chicago wheat futures and options by 10,392 contracts to 4,262 as of September 3. Speculators added 964 net-long Kansas City wheat contracts, increasing their position to 51,248 on Tuesday.
September 2026 CBOT wheat settled at $7.07, down 16¼ cents, while December 2026 CBOT wheat closed at $7.25¼, down 16 cents. September 2026 Kansas City wheat settled at $7.84, down 7¾ cents, and December closed at $7.98½, down 20¼ cents. September 2026 Minneapolis wheat gained 3¼ cents to $7.30¼, while December fell 17½ cents to $7.45.