Portland Grain Review 03/29

March 29, 2018 Portland Price Trends 03-01-17 08-01-17 02-01-18 03-22-18 03-29-18 #1 SWW (bu) 4.90 5.20 5.42 5.65 5.80 White Club 5.05 5.30 5.42 5.65 5.80 DNS 14% 6.96 8.38 7.41 7.30 7.08 HRW 11.5% 5.52 5.65 6.17 6.09 6.17 #2 Corn (ton) 175.00 148.00 161.00 178.00 175.00 #2 Barley 158.00 125.00 140.00 152.00 152.00 Wheat...Good export demand for U.S. white wheat continues to drive the nearby basis levels for west coast white wheat markets, as basis jumped another 20 cents this week to 140 over Chicago and pushed flat prices to a new marketing year high. Acreage...All wheat acres planted are expected to be up 3% across the Pacific Northwest states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Idaho leads the pack with an overall 6% increase in all wheat, with both Washington and Oregon expected to be up 2%; all against a 3% nationwide increase. Spring wheat planting intentions are up 5% for Idaho and 7% for Washington. The planting survey also showed an 11% jump in barley acres for Washington, with Idaho up 6% over last year. Weekly Sales..USDA weekly export sales showed the recent treat in U.S. wheat prices stimulated some demand, as total sales for the week came in nearly 40% above the four-week average. Sales of 13 mb puts the current year total at 838 mb, which stands 13% behind a year agoa dn 8% below the five year average pace. White wheat was the stalwart last week, picking up another 5.2 mb to put year-to-date sales at 190 mb which now stands at 14% better than a year ago adn 23% ahead of average. Hard red winter saw 4.2 mb for the week and with 328 mb committed stands 17% behind last year but 1% above average. Hard red spring picked up 2.5 mb; soft red winter registered a half million bushels. Top buyers were Japan with 3.9 mb and Nigeria with 2.8 mb. -Norm Ruhoff Contributing Analyst Copyright 2018 DTN/Telvent. All Rights Reserved.