EU wheat prices fall

European Union wheat was lower on Tuesday, depressed by a drop in Chicago futures and the weakness of the dollar against European currencies, dealers said. French traders noted the dollar's fall against the euro had reduced Europe's competitive position on world markets.
The absence of new fundamentals and the approach of the end-year slowdown also weighed on sentiment, they added. And there had been little follow-through buying in Europe after higher US markets at the end of last week.
"It's Chicago that's leading the way, but at the moment each rise is immediately followed by profit-taking, which adds up to a trend that's fairly neutral," one trader said.
"The international picture has been well priced in. If there are no major weather crises, I wouldn't expect a lot of movement through to January or even February," another said. The cash market in France was also under pressure as demand slowed from buyers believed to be well covered to the year-end.
Standard wheat, delivered Rouen, was quoted down one euro to be bid at 147 euros for December-March delivery. Quality grades were quoted steady at 150 euros. Feed barley was stable at parity with standard wheat at 147 euros, delivered northern ports, still underpinned by good international demand, as shown by Tunisia's recent purchase.
"It's a bit of a false price, we'll be back at 150 euros given the demand out there," one trader said. Maize edged lower in slow trade, although the international picture remained tight and logistics for exports from eastern Europe were still delicate, traders said.
MARKET RANGE-BOUND In the UK, feed wheat futures were also lower, tracking losses in US and French markets, with traders citing the weakness of the dollar against sterling. Dealers said prices were still stuck well within the market's recent narrow band and business remained slow in both the futures and cash markets.
In Germany, demand remained weak with EU sales of intervention wheat and barley for use in the internal market keeping physical business volumes low. Standard bread wheat for November delivery in Hamburg was offered unchanged at around 155 euros a tonne, with buyers at 152 to 153 euros. "The dramatic strengthening of the euro in recent days is also going to make exports much more difficult despite the problems still going on in Ukraine," one trader said.
"But the large volumes the EU Commission is selling into the internal market each week is just keeping commercial demand so low you can hardly talk about a market some days." Italian wheat and maize prices were stable as buyers, well stocked until the end of this year, were postponing orders for next year until sellers agreed to reduce prices, but feed demand was pushing up barley prices, traders said.
"From now until the year-end I do not expect any changes if nothing (big) happens on other markets. The Italian market is very calm," said one trader, adding that barley prices had added on average 3 euros per tonne from last week's 163-164 euros. Standard bread wheat traded at around 180 euros for prompt delivery in northern Italy and maize was quoted at about 165-166 euros.