European wheat futures rose on Friday, in step with the trend in Chicago, as brisk international demand and worries about crop quality in some countries offset pressure from rising global supply. November milling wheat on the Euronext futures market was up 0.50 euro or 0.27 percent at 187.75 euros ($250) a tonne by 1223 GMT.
After hitting a contract low at 185.75 euros at the start of the week, the Paris benchmark has regained some ground, reaching a one-week high early on Thursday. "Bullish news is starting to filter through to the wheat market," one trader on the Paris futures market said. "I get the impression we may have hit a bottom at around 185 euros." Export demand, fuelled by recent low prices and increased imports needs in China, have already absorbed a chunk of what is expected to be a large 2013 crop in the northern hemisphere. Reports of some low wheat quality in Russia, western Europe and the United States were also supporting prices. Weekly US and European Union export data on Thursday showed large volumes for the previous week.
Export demand helped Chicago wheat futures edge higher on Friday and shake off pressure from corn, which slipped to a fresh low as favourable weather pointed towards a bumper US corn crop. In France, feedback from ongoing harvesting in northern regions was generally positive, with less talk of quality problems than during earlier harvesting on the Atlantic coast.
"The wheat is being cut; we hear a quarter of the harvest is done. The results are pretty good despite the stormy weather we had, it's good news," said a cash broker in the Beauce grain belt south of Paris. After a week of storms and heavy rain had hampered field work in France, drier weather since Wednesday was expected to allow field work to accelerate.
In Germany, the EU's second-largest wheat grower after France, the market was waiting for the harvest to begin in earnest in the coming days. "Harvesting is likely to sharply gather pace over the weekend and next week, so we will soon see if there has been any quality losses from the recent hot weather," one German trader said. "The market is in a wait-and-see mode."