Portland Grain Review 07/26

July 26, 2018 Portland Price Trends 07-01-17 08-01-17 06-01-18 07-19-18 07-26-18 #1 SWW (bu) 5.55 5.20 6.05 5.95 5.95 White Club 5.65 5.30 6.05 5.95 5.95 DNS 14% 9.31 8.38 7.49 6.39 6.93 HRW 11.5% 6.34 5.65 6.71 6.25 6.60 #2 Corn (ton) 157.00 148.00 178.00 157.00 161.00 #2 Barley 127.00 125.00 155.00 150.00 140.00 Wheat..The sharp rally across the futures complex buoyed wheat prices on the west coast this week, but basis levels remained somewhat defensive with harvest underway. White wheat basis to Chicago retreated 50 cents from last week, while hard red winter 11.5% and dark northern spring 14% pro slipped a dime. Hot and dry weather continues to advance harvest progress across the Pacific Northwest. Weekly Sales...USDA reported export demand for US wheat improved for the second straight week, coming in above the four-week average at 14.2 mb. All wheat sales now stand at 250 mb, which is 28% behind a year ago and 27% off the five-year average pace. Top seller was hard red winter with 5.2 mb and with sales of 63 mb, that class of wheat remains about half of both a year ago and average levels. Soft white registered 4.1 mb, spread mostly across four major buyers and with 69 mb in commitments stands 23% below a year ago, but 13% ahead of the average pace. Hard red spring booked nearly 3 mb and sets with 80 mb in sale,s which is 11% below a year ago and 15% below the five-year average. Top Buyers..Sales to unknown topped the list of US wheat buyers over the past week at 3.6 mb, followed by South Korea with 2.9 mb, Nigeria with 2.5 mb and Japan with 1.9 mb. -Norm Ruhoff Contributing Analyst Copyright 2018 DTN/Telvent. All Rights Reserved.