A flour miller in Indonesia bought 25,000 tonnes of Canadian spring wheat in a recent deal for arrival in November while Australian exporters are offering new-crop wheat, traders said. The Indonesian miller purchased Canadian wheat between $320 and $325 a tonne, including cost and freight.
Spring wheat prices rallied to a four-year high of $8.16-1/4 a bushel in July as a severe drought reduced yields in US northern plains, but the market has eased following higher-than-expected supply estimate from the US Department of Agriculture.
It was trading at $6.67 a bushel on Tuesday. The USDA pegged production of spring wheat other than durum at 402 million bushels, down 21 million bushels from July forecast, but above the average of market forecasts. Australia is making offers for its new wheat crop which will be harvested in November and December, traders said.
Australian Premium Wheat (APW) with 10.5 percent protein is being offered at around $240 to $245 a tonne. "New-crop Australian wheat is being offered, but we haven't really heard of any deals done in Southeast Asia as yet," said one Singapore-based trader.
Australian wheat crop has also been hit with dry weather this year although some rains in recent days have brought much-needed relief. "In some areas the damage is already done, but we got a boost in other regions," said one Melbourne-based commodities analyst. Black Sea wheat with 11.5 percent protein is being offered at $215 a tonne, C&F, at large ports that can handle panamax size ships, traders said.