Euronext wheat edged higher on Thursday in keeping with a firm trend in Chicago as futures recovered from contract lows this week, while traders awaited the outcome of a Saudi tender as a test of export competition. Benchmark December milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext settled up 0.75 euro, or 0.5%, at 167.00 euros ($184.30) a tonne.
It was recovering from a life-of-contract low of 165.75 euros touched in each of the past two sessions that was also a weakest level in over a year for a second-month contract. Despite an export-friendly slide in the euro to around $1.10 in the past week, market sentiment in western Europe has been dented by hefty harvest supplies and competition from rival exporters such as Ukraine.
Attention was focused on a purchase tender announced on Thursday by Saudi Arabia's state grain buyer SAGO for 595,000 tonnes of wheat, the first from Saudi Arabia to allow wheat offers from the Black Sea region. The opening up of the Saudi market to Black Sea origins has caused concern in Germany that it could reduce German sales in its largest export market.