European wheat prices slightly higher

European wheat was stable to slightly higher on Wednesday supported by US markets preparing to close for the Thanksgiving holiday and amid strong North African demand, traders said. Most traded March milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext was unchanged at 163.00 euros a tonne at 1630 GMT. Front-month December, which is expiring on December 11, was 0.5 percent higher at 159.00 euros.
In Chicago, wheat was firm as the run-up to the Thanksgiving holiday prompted investors to cover short positions in a market that has been weighed down by brimming global supplies. On the French cash market, premiums rose for delivery in French ports, with brokers saying the feeling was that the market could rise further by the end of December, supported by regular demand and year-end coverage.
A cargo was expected in Rouen to load wheat for Morocco - the third since the start of the week - in a sign of rising North African demand that was also illustrated by a good export rhythm towards Algeria in November, with nearly 450,000 tonnes already loaded. "The expansion of the (port) line-up generates additional needs in France. Part of Tunisia's tender today could be for France," a cash market trader said.
Tunisia's state grains agency purchased around 100,000 tonnes of soft milling wheat to be sourced from optional origins in an international tender which closed on Wednesday, European traders said. German cash premiums in Hamburg were hardly changed in export gloom. "The outlook for German exports remains depressed with the euro's stronger trend continuing while competition in export markets is very tough," one German trader said. "Premiums in the Baltic States remain below German levels which is disappointing."
Standard bread wheat with 12 percent protein content was offered for sale unchanged at 3 euros over the Paris December contract for November delivery in Hamburg. Feed wheat in Germany's South Oldenburg market was again quoted well above milling wheat, with December delivery offered at around 175 euros a tonne.