Paris wheat slips again, German wheat firm as exports pick up

PARIS: Euronext wheat futures eased again on Thursday to touch a new two-week low, pressured by a weaker trend in Chicago ahead of widely followed U.S. planting estimates and doubts about late-season French export prospects.

Benchmark May milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext  settled 0.50 euro, or 0.3 percent lower at 186.00 euros ($208.92) a tonne.

Earlier it fell to 185 euros, its lowest since March 13 though it held chart support around that level.

"We're still in a correction mode," one futures dealer said. "The drop in the euro is helpful but not enough for the market."

The benchmark Euronext contract has fallen back sharply since hitting a one-month high of 191 euros in early trade on Tuesday.

Chicago wheat similarly eased to pull back from a one-month top earlier in the week, with the run-up to Friday's U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) planting estimates encouraging the market to consolidate.

In Europe, a setback for French wheat in an Egyptian tender on Tuesday had dented export sentiment after a brisk month of export loadings in the EU's biggest wheat exporting country.

Doubts about French export prospects were also fuelled by talk Argentine wheat may by chosen to fill one to three vessels in a recent tender purchase by Algeria, France's main export outlet, traders said.

A slide in the Argentine peso had made local wheat competitive again to Algeria, they said.

But an easing in the euro against a broadly stronger dollar lent some support to the European market.

Wheat prices also remained capped by a favourable harvest outlook in most major production zones.

In Germany, however, brisk export activity supported premiums.

Standard bread wheat with 12 percent protein for April delivery in Hamburg was offered for sale at around 7 euros over Paris May, up 0.50 euro.

"Ports are busy with a decent export programme with the main ships loading wheat for Saudi Arabia and barley for Iran," one German trader said.

"The loading programme is creating demand for old crop wheat in Germany which is sometimes difficult to meet because of restrained selling by farmers who are unhappy about the low level of Paris prices."

One ship is currently loading about 60,000 tonnes of wheat for Saudi Arabia in Germany and another is set to load an additional 60,000 tonnes for Saudi Arabia next week.

There was also talk of German barley being used to supply part of the 200,000 tonnes of barley Iran bought in a tender this month.