Paris wheat futures little changed

Paris wheat futures were little changed on Friday as the market weighed up rain forecasts for parched US grain belts and export prospects after French wheat missed out again in an Egyptian tender but was set to book a large sale to Algeria. Egyptian state buyer GASC purchased 230,000 tonnes of wheat from Romania, Russia and Ukraine, underlining a lack of competitiveness for French wheat against Black Sea origins that have remained available further into the season than usual.
"This year is proving to be one in which Black Sea supply never dries up," one trader said. But with limited expectations of a French sale to Egypt given lower Black Sea prices and a recent Egyptian rule change penalising French wheat, some traders focused on a bigger-than-expected Algerian purchase, likely from France. The 450,000 tonne purchase could reflect a government push to boost supply before presidential elections this month and in the run-up the holy month of Ramadan that begins in late June, traders said.
May milling wheat on Euronext was down 0.75 euro or 0.4 percent at 209.00 euros a tonne by 1612 GMT. New-crop November edged down 0.50 euros or 0.3 percent to 199.75 euros as it hovered around the psychological 200-euro mark. Chicago wheat steadied on Friday to halt a two-day slide as it found technical support on price charts. Forecasts for rain this weekend and next week in the southern US Plains has curbed prices, although dry conditions on both sides of the Atlantic remained a concern.
Brisk exports continued to lend support to old-crop prices in Europe. The European Union reported on Thursday 585,000 tonnes of weekly export licences for soft wheat, taking the total so far this season to 23.9 million. The EU already surpassed two weeks ago a record for full-year soft wheat export licences and this week's award meant it had now also broken a record for all-wheat export licences, including durum and flour, with 25.4 million tonnes.
The market was continuing to monitor the situation in Ukraine and Russia, two major grain exporters. French consultancy Agritel estimated that Ukraine's maize crop could plunge to 23.3 million tonnes this year, after a record 30.9 million tonnes in 2013, as financial problems fuelled by the political crisis deter farmers from sowing maize, which is more expensive to grow than other crops.
Some Ukrainian analysts have already estimated that the financial squeeze on farmers might cut the country's total grain harvest by about 11 million tonnes. In France, maize sowing was 12 percent complete as of April 7, ahead of last year's pace, farm office FranceAgriMer said on Friday, in an illustration of how a dry, warm start to spring has benefited field work.