PARIS: Euronext wheat extended losses on Tuesday to the lowest in nearly four weeks as futures saw more chart-based selling, while physical markets in Europe held firm as brisk export demand absorbed more of a dwindling harvest surplus.
March milling wheat on Euronext was down 2.00 euros or 1.0% at 205.00 euros ($246.86) a tonne by 1715 GMT. It touched its lowest since Nov. 4 at 204.50 euros, adding to losses on Monday when it struck a three-week low. A sharp increase to Australia's official forecast of its 2020/21 wheat crop and a Russian proposal to expand its grain export quota had pressured prices on Monday by raising the prospect of greater competition.
That triggered profit-taking after a November rally, with selling in Paris and Chicago futures accelerating as they broke chart support levels. However, the Euronext March contract found a footing on Tuesday at its 50-day moving average, traders said. In volatile US trading, Chicago wheat slid to a near two-month low before paring its losses.
Export premiums in France were marked up to compensate for Euronext. Traders said a lack of offers for 2020 harvest supply was supporting nearby premiums while talk of new-crop sales of French barley to China kept further-away prices firm. But a further rise in the euro to above $1.20 against the dollar, and a clean sweep for Black Sea origins in a latest tender purchase by Egypt tempered export sentiment.
"The strong trend in the euro towards $1.20 is painful for grain export competitiveness and is already making new sales difficult," one German trader said.
"If Russia's plan for increased export quotas are confirmed it could mean Russian wheat may win a couple of months of tenders which would otherwise have partly gone to the EU."
However, current loading in France and German remained busy, including four ships set to load 180,000 tonnes of German wheat for Algeria in early December, traders said.
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