PARIS: Euronext wheat edged lower on Thursday as economic jitters fuelled a slide in Chicago grains and wider financial markets, outweighing support from a weaker euro.

Signs of increased competition from Russian and Ukrainian grain, following months of war disruption to Black Sea trade, were also curbing wheat prices, traders said.

December milling wheat on the Paris-based Euronext exchange was down 0.8% at 322 euros ($320.49) a tonne by 1610 GMT. The contract had risen to a four-week high on Tuesday, buoyed by concerns about US and European corn crops, before retreating as investors fretted about interest rate rises to curb inflation and the risk of a resulting recession.

Chicago wheat was down about 2.5% as a new 20-year high for the dollar weighed on US commodities. “The combination of the weather, geo-politics and the wider macroeconomic uncertainty make it a very difficult market to read,” British merchant ADM Agriculture Ltd said of wheat.

“Russia has had a bumper harvest and is now being aggressive with offers, so we are now expecting to see more switching from northern Europe to the Black Sea.” Traders said Algeria bought 105,000 tonnes of wheat in a tender on Tuesday that was expected to be sourced from Russia at prices well below western European levels.

Ukraine’s grain and oilseed exports reached 4.5 million tonnes in August, increasing by half compared with July as the re-opening of Black Sea ports under a diplomatic deal boosted flows from the war-torn country, a senior official said.

However, wheat remains a small part of current Ukrainian exports and the country is also facing a sharp fall in sowing for next year’s crop.

In the European Union, rain forecast in the coming days was tempering worries about upcoming wheat planting after this summer’s severe drought.