Portland Grain Review 04/12

April 12, 2018 Portland Price Trends 04-01-17 08-01-17 03-01-18 04-03-18 04-12-18 #1 SWW (bu) 4.82 5.20 5.78 5.90 5.92 White Club 4.97 5.30 5.78 5.90 5.92 DNS 14% 6.66 8.38 7.64 7.15 7.58 HRW 11.5% 4.94 5.65 6.83 6.44 6.57 #2 Corn (ton) 160.00 148.00 173.00 177.00 183.00 #2 Barley 120.00 125.00 150.00 152.00 152.00 Wheat...A move to the $6 level for the first time since mid-2015 found farmer interest this week, triggering a long sought trading level for the exporter need to meet recent demand. The selling temporarily stymied spot bids with a relatively sharp drop in basis. Nearby white wheat basis to Chicago May hit a peak of 140 over in late March, holding strong before a drop to 105 yesterday; all numbers that are easily double the average for the middle of April. Spot hard red winter basis held mostly steady at 150 over the KC May futures, also double the ten-year average, while hard red spring wheat basis has traded a 10 cent range from the 130 level which is about 25% under the ten-year average. Crop Report...USDA acknowledged an above-average pace of export demand for U.S. white wheat, bumping up projected export sales to 210 mb which is the best level since 2011/12. Ending stocks slipped by an equal amount to 66 mb; second lowest to the 50 mb in 2013 of the past ten years. This puts the stocks-to-use ratio for white wheat at 22%; down 18% from a year ago and nearly 10% below the five-year average. -Norm Ruhoff Contributing Analyst Copyright 2018 DTN/Telvent. All Rights Reserved.