Euronext wheat futures were little changed on Wednesday, in keeping with a hesitant trend in Chicago, as traders assessed the risks to crops from a continuing dry spell in part of western Europe including France. May milling wheat on the Paris-based Euronext futures settled unchanged on the day at 164.50 euros a tonne.
December, the most active new-crop contract, settled 0.25 euro, or 0.1 percent higher at 174.25 euros. "The market is consolidating in the absence of clear factors to drive a rebound," one Euronext trader said. "The weather and the lack of rain are being monitored, with farmers starting to irrigate crops in some parts of France, but the situation isn't critical yet."
France, the European Union's biggest wheat grower, and Spain are facing very dry conditions as crops reach crucial spring development stages.Prospects for rain relief in the month ahead were limited in France and Spain, Joel Widenor of the Commodity Weather Group told the Thomson Reuters Global Ags Forum, an online chatroom. "This all suggests the risk for some significant wheat yield reductions in France/Spain in our estimation," he said, adding, however, that rains in mid-May could reduce potential losses in France compared with Spain. Europe was also experiencing a cold spell this week, with frosts across much of the region.
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