European wheat futures were lower on Thursday, extending a pullback from a near one year high, as traders awaited indications on the impact of a heatwave coming to an end in France to see if it would alter a well-supplied global market. European prices were also tracking a pullback in US prices after a one-year high this week.
A tender purchase by Egypt, in which it bought Romanian and Ukrainian wheat, and recent weakness in the Russian rouble have also drawn attention back towards export-competitive Black Sea origins. December milling wheat, the most active position on Paris-based Euronext, was down 1.25 euro, or 0.7 percent, in late trade at 177.50 euros a tonne, moving further away from Tuesday's 11-month high of 183.00 euros.
On CME Group's EU wheat market, the December contract was down 0.75 euro at 176.00 euros. "Weather issues in Europe and the FSU (former Soviet Union) region might mean a fairly balanced wheat market in 2017/18," Societe Generale analyst Rajesh Singla said in a note, adding soil moisture was set to stay low in the northern United States.
"However, weakness in oil prices and the resulting depreciation in the Brazilian real and Russian rouble have become key negative catalysts for agri commodities," he said. A heatwave continued in France, with more records being set for June temperatures in some areas, before an easing in heat from Friday in most regions.
The heatwave is expected to have hurt maturing wheat crops, although it was too early to measure the impact, traders and analysts said. The hot spell has accelerated crop growth and wheat harvesting was now under way in the southwest in an unusually early start to the harvest campaign. In exports, EU 2016/17 soft wheat exports had reached 23 million tonnes by June 20, down 25 percent from a year ago, official data showed on Thursday.
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