US wheat and corn futures were mostly flat on Friday, consolidating after the prior session's setbacks driven by weak US export sales and the fallout from Europe's debt crisis. Dealers said a weaker dollar underpinned US prices on Friday but ongoing concerns about the euro zone crisis were helping to keep gains in check.
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat for December delivery were unchanged at $6.20 per bushel at 1200 GMT. The prior session it had slid 3.6 percent tumble, the biggest single-day fall in a month. "US wheat remains too expensive on the global market, a fact confirmed once again by the latest Egyptian tender results," said Luke Mathews, an agricultural commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
USDA on Thursday reported US wheat exports last week totalled 298,400 tonnes, below trader estimates that reached 450,000 tonnes. Egypt bought 240,000 tonnes of Ukrainian and Russian wheat on Thursday at around $265 per tonne, cost including freight (CIF). US suppliers didn't bother to compete.
In south-east Asian markets, US wheat is also uncompetitive. Soft white wheat shipped from Pacific north-west ports is around $20 per tonne more expensive than Australian Standard White milling wheat in key markets such as Indonesia. European Union wheat exports have been healthier, buoyed partly by the weakness of the euro. The EU this week granted export licences for 502,000 tonnes of soft wheat, taking the total since the beginning of the 2011/12 (July-June) season to 5.54 million tonnes, official data showed.
"The lower price levels (for EU wheat) seems to be attracting wheat buyers...Over 1 million tons of wheat has been released for export in the past two weeks which is considerably more than in the weeks before," Commerzbank said in a market note.
"We expect the price to rise to 200 euros a ton by the end of the year," the report added. January milling wheat in Paris eased 0.25 euros or 0.1 percent to 185.75 euros a tonne. Volume in Paris was curtailed by the closure of many offices for Armistice Day. "The market is quiet today because of the public holiday in France," one European trader said. "Although Paris wheat prices are stable this morning you might not be able to read much into it because of thin market participation."
CBOT corn for December delivery edged up 0.2 percent to $6.46-3/4 a bushel, clawing back some of Thursday's losses. "Basically, people are taking advantage of the sell-off (to buy at lower levels)," said Jonathan Barratt, head of Sydney-based Commodity Brokering Services. US corn exports last week also disappointed, with sales totalling 251,800 tonnes, below estimates ranging from 550,000 to 750,000 tonnes.
Dealers noted the premium for corn was prompting some animal feed makers to switch to using wheat. UK grain merchant Openfield said on Friday it had signed a major contract to supply feed wheat to the United States with the first shipment due for loading next week. Britain's largest grain farmer co-operative said the approach from a major US feed compounder followed a dramatic rise in their domestic corn prices. Soybeans for January delivery advanced 0.5 percent to $11.73-1/2 per bushel, propped up by continuing importer interest in US beans despite big South American supplies competing for global market share after bumper harvests.
EU rapeseed futures were also edged higher with February up 0.1 percent at 427.50 euros a tonne. "Oilseed market fundamentals generally remain positive with good underlying demand although short-term crush margins look poor and European rapeseed prices are possibly at the top end of their range for the time being," Jonathan Lane, trading manager with UK merchant Gleadell said in a note on Friday.
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