PARIS: Euronext wheat futures were mixed on Monday, with front-month futures again supported by export demand and other positions pressured by weakness in Chicago and continuing competition from Russian supplies, dealers said.
December milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext was up 0.4% at 327.00 euros ($334.68) a tonne by 1713 GMT as it held near Friday’s one-week high of 331.00 euros.
It added to its price gap with second-month March futures , which eased 0.6% to trade at 319.25 euros.
Chicago wheat was pressured by a jump in the dollar, as investors worried about rising COVID-19 cases in China.
Consultancy IKAR raised its forecast of Russian wheat exports in 2022/23 by 2 million tonnes to 44 million tonnes.
Sovecon, another agricultural consultancy, estimated that monthly Russian wheat exports will reach a new season’s high in November at 4.4 million tonnes.
“There’s the COVID-19 news in China and with the Ukraine corridor extension settled, price pressure from Russian wheat is back in focus,” a dealer said.
Last Thursday’s news that a United Nations-backed grain corridor from Ukrainian Black Sea ports would be extended for another 120 days has eased supply worries.
A flurry of export sales to China and Morocco remained the talking point in France, with hedging of sales thought to have fuelled the strength in December futures, dealers said.
There was ongoing chatter about the size of French wheat purchases by Chinese importers in the past week, with volume possibly rising to several hundred thousand tonnes.
Winter crops in most of Europe were off to a good start, helped by warm weather and sufficient moisture, but a lack of rain is a concern in the south, the European Union’s crop monitor said.
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