Kansas City wheat futures traded higher this morning, supported by further declines in the winter wheat crop ratings in yesterday's crop progress reports, according to traders.

All winter wheat is now estimated at 39% good-to-excellent, versus 40% last week. Kansas stayed unchanged at 37% good-to-excellent from last week, Oklahoma came in lower at 21% good-to-excellent versus 27% last week, and Nebraska improved from 9% good-to-excellent last week to 13% this week.

The effects of the ongoing drought continue to affect the emerging HRW wheat crop, traders said. There also continues to be not a lot of rain in the forecast for HRW wheat areas, traders added.

Kansas City wheat futures traded higher today after yesterday's delayed USDA crop progress reports estimated the winter wheat crop overall in poor condition, according to traders.

This has been reported as the worst start in the good-to-excellent category for the winter wheat crop since the beginning of official reports, traders added. The entire U.S. winter wheat crop is estimated at 40% good-to-excellent, versus 46% last year.

Kansas is rated at 37%, Oklahoma at 27%, and Nebraska at 9% good-to-excellent. The drought continues to take a toll on the progress of the newly planted wheat crop, traders said.

SovEcon has now downgraded the Russian wheat crop to 37.5 million metric tonnes, down .5 million metric tonnes from their last report and from the USDA estimate, traders said.