EU wheat pares gains after hitting new high

PARIS: European wheat traded nearly flat on Friday, taking a breather after scoring a new contract high for the third session in a row earlier in the day as forecasts point to more dry weather in France, the European Union’s top grower.

Most-traded September milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext was unchanged by 1530 GMT at 206.50 euros a tonne after rallying as high as 209.50 euros earlier. That was 10.00 euros above the close last Friday. “It has been a wild week. Some people want to book profits before the week-end,” one trader said.

The large French grain baskets in central and northeastern France are not expected to see any rain until the end of the month.

That would follow a severe cold snap that hit most of the country, with damage still uncertain. The condition of wheat and barley crops fell slightly in the week to April 12 but spring barley was more severely hit, FranceAgriMer data showed on Friday. The last contract for the current season, May, was down 1% at 217.25 euros a tonne with a lack of demand for EU wheat weighing on prices.

In Germany, a new harvest forecast on Friday said German wheat was in a decent state despite recent concern about frosts and dry weather.

Germany’s 2021 wheat crop is expected to increase by 2.2% on the year to 22.63 million tonnes, the country’s association of farm cooperatives said in its second harvest estimate on Friday. This was up from the association’s March forecast of 22.34 million tonnes.

“The forecast showed that the frosts in Germany in April may have slowed wheat growth but widespread damage is not suspected,” one trader said. “Germany’s rapeseed also seems to have come through the cold weather well. “At this stage of the season things is looking positive, with good wheat export supplies on the way. We now need normal weather patterns up to the harvest this summer without the droughts and heat waves we have suffered in the past few years.”

Slow export demand continued to weigh on the Hamburg market.

Standard 12% protein wheat for April delivery in Hamburg was offered for sale at level Paris May against 2 euros under on Thursday. Hamburg prices gave up their premium over Paris earlier this week.