PARIS/HAMBURG: European wheat closed slightly higher on Friday as traders assessed mixed export indications and adjusted positions after an intense news week capped by Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election.
December wheat on Paris-based Euronext settled 0.2% up at 215.75 euros ($230.83) a metric ton but remained near Tuesday’s two-month low of 212.25 euros.
Chicago wheat eased under pressure from a rising dollar while traders were digested monthly world crop forecasts from the US Department of Agriculture. The USDA cut US corn and soybean harvest estimates but left unchanged export projections despite a wave of recent demand. “I think there’s some profit-taking after so many bets before the US election and with the dollar well up again,” a futures dealer said. Corresponding weakness in the euro underpinned Euronext by making west European grain cheaper overseas.
After traders reported on Thursday that importers in Morocco had booked at least several cargoes of European Union wheat in recent days, there was talk of Moroccan interest in French barley.
Markets are grappling with Russian wheat prices, with an unofficial minimum export price contrasting with weaker market rates this week. “Although real Russian prices have drifted down in past days, Russian exporters seem nervous about offering the cheaper levels in export markets because of fears they may anger the authorities,” one German trader said.
“Overall this reluctance to sell is positive for EU export prospects,” he said. Russian November/December 12.5% protein wheat was quoted around $228-$230 a ton FOB on Friday, down from about $232-$235 last week.
Ukrainian 11% protein milling wheat was quoted at 235 to 238 euros a ton to Italy including land transport delivery, another trader said. Buyers in the Irish Republic were seeking about 7,000 tons of EU feed wheat for January/February shipment at around 232 euros a ton C&F, he added.
Drier weather has sped up the sowing campaign in western Europe after heavy rain threatened a repeat of this year’s poor harvest, analysts said. In France, farmers had sown only 62% of the expected soft wheat area for next year’s crop by Monday, against 41% a week earlier, farm office FranceAgriMer said on Friday.
That compared with 65% by the same stage last year and a five-year average of 77%.