European wheat prices were lower on Thursday, tracking a setback in Chicago futures as news that a US crop tour was projecting well above average yields in top growing state Kansas added to concerns about abundant supplies. New-crop September milling wheat on the Paris Euronext market was off 1.75 euros or 1.1 percent at 159.50 euros a tonne at 1513 GMT after dipping to a low of 159.25 euros, its weakest level in more than two weeks.
Dealers said the first two days of an annual three-day tour of Kansas hard red winter wheat fields had projected well above normal yields. "It is the conditions in Kansas (driving prices lower)," one European dealer said. The tour is scheduled to release a final yield forecast for Kansas wheat later on Thursday. Trading was subdued due to public holidays in France and Germany for Ascension Day.
Dealers said the market remained underpinned by a steady flow of exports from France to Algeria and Morocco. There was also optimism that part of the 620,000 tonnes of wheat purchased by Saudi Arabia in a tender on Monday will be sourced in Germany. November feed wheat futures in London were down 0.7 percent at 116.65 pounds a tonne.