Weekly USDA wheat ratings improve in Kansas, Texas; Oklahoma declines
March 18 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service in a weekly crop report on Monday rated 55% of the winter wheat in top producer Kansas in good to excellent condition, up from 53% the previous week.
For Texas, the No. 2 winter wheat state by planted area, the USDA rated 46% of the crop as good to excellent, up from 44% a week ago. For Oklahoma, the USDA rated 61% of the crop as good to excellent, down from 65% last week. For Colorado, the USDA rated 65% of the crop as good to excellent, up from 56% in the state’s previous report, which was released on Feb. 26.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
A strong winter wheat crop from the United States, the No. 5 wheat exporter, could contribute to recovering global wheat supplies that have pushed Chicago Board of Trade future prices to a three and a half year low last week.
CONTEXT
With the harvest still about three months away, condition ratings for winter wheat are up significantly in key U.S. states compared to a year ago as the core Plains production belt recovers from a multi-year drought.
U.S. farmers planted 34.425 million acres (13.931 million hectares) of winter wheat for harvest in 2024, down 6% from a year earlier, the USDA said on Jan. 12.
Approximately 14% of the U.S. winter wheat crop was located in an area experiencing drought as of March 12, the USDA said last week, unchanged from the previous week but down markedly from 53% a year earlier.
Over the winter and early spring, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service releases crop progress reports for select states. The government is scheduled to resume regular weekly U.S. crop progress reports on April 1.
Source Link : https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/weekly-usda-wheat-ratings-improve-in-kansas-texas-oklahoma-declines
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