Money managers boost Chicago wheat net short to five-year high

Investors added a large number of short positions in Chicago soft red winter wheat, sending the net short to the highest level since January 2018 in the week ending April 11, according to the commitment of traders data released by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) late Friday, April 14.

While Chicago wheat, the most active US wheat contract, saw a massive gain in the net short, there was an increase in Kansas hard red winter wheat net long and a slight decline in Minneapolis wheat net long.

Managed money investors in the Chicago wheat market reported a 503-lot decrease in long positions, bringing the total to 56,306 contracts – a six-week low.

Speculators increased short positions by 16,661 lots, resulting in a total of 160,553–a 205-week high.

The surge in shorts helped bolster the net short by 17,164 lots to 104,247 – a 272-week high.

There was a 2,588-lot gain in long positions in the Kansas wheat contract, bringing the total to 37,341 – a seven-week high.

Short positions advanced by 972 lots, leaving the total at 28,122 contracts.

The decline in longs, coupled with the smaller increase in shorts, boosted the net long by 1,616 lots to 9,229 – a seven-week high.

Minneapolis wheat posted a 684-lot decline in the number of long positions, bringing the total to 9,477.

The number of shorts slipped by 235 positions to 9,232.

The Minneapolis wheat net long dropped by 449 to 245.

Corn and soybean markets

Investors in the corn market added 13,933 long positions during the period covered by the report, bringing the total to 213,491 – a seven-week high.

Short positions increased by 8,368 lots to 186,379.

The gain in longs, coupled with a smaller increase in shorts, resulted in a 5,565-lot advance in the net long, bringing the total to 27,112 – a six-week high.

A different dynamic was at work in the soybean market, where speculators shed 15,702 longs, sending the total to 142,652.

Investors added 5,240 shorts, resulting in a total of 17,630.

The soybean net long dropped by 20,942 lots to 125,022.

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