The condition of the US winter wheat crop slipped this past week, while spring wheat planting advanced at the average pace.
The national winter wheat crop was rated 47% good to excellent as of Sunday in the USDA crop progress report on Monday. That is down a single point on the week, matching pre-report trade expectations. Last year, the winter wheat crop was rated 55% good to excellent.
Meanwhile, American spring wheat planting advanced 4 points from a week earlier to 7% complete as of Sunday, 1 point ahead of last year and on par with both the five-year average and the average trade guess.
In the No. 1 production state of Kansas, the condition of the winter wheat crop fell sharply amid ongoing warm, dry conditions. The state’s crop was rated 43% good to excellent as of Sunday, down from 51% a week earlier. On the other hand, the condition of the Oklahoma crop managed a 2-point improvement on the week to 44% good to excellent.
At 64% good to excellent, the condition of the winter wheat crop in the Soft Red state of Michigan was up 14 points on the week. In contrast, the condition of the Ohio crop eased a single point from a week earlier to 59% good to excellent as of Sunday.
Across the country, 8% of the US winter wheat crop had reached the heading stage of development as of Sunday, up from 5% the previous week. That is on par with the average but 2 points behind a year ago.
Spring wheat planting in North Dakota gained 2 points from the previous week to reach 3% complete as of Sunday, even with last year and the state average. The South Dakota crop was already 27% planted, compared to 9% a week earlier, 20% last year and 16% on average.
The Montana and Minnesota spring wheat crops were 3% and 1% planted as of Sunday, respectively, versus 2% and 3% last year and 4% and 2% on average.
