MILAN: * European milling wheat futures edged higher, finding some support in a six-month low for the euro against the dollar, but movements were timid as the market continued to consolidate ahead of closely watched US corn estimates on Monday.
* US wheat futures eased under pressure from the higher dollar but grains held up better than other markets which were hit by growing fears about Europe's capacity to resolve a debt crisis.
* Operators were reluctant to take positions ahead of the US Department of Agriculture's monthly crop estimates, which will give a gauge of how tight US corn supplies are after a weather-hit growing season.
* "Even the dollar's rise is having relatively little impact on grains compared with crude oil," one grain trader said. "People are waiting for the USDA report."
* Benchmark November milling wheat was up 1.25 euros or 0.61 percent at 206.75 euros a tonne by 1554 GMT.
The contract lost about 1 percent on the week.
* "Grain markets are clearly dominated by maize at the moment," Benoit Labouille, managing director of French consultancy Offre & Demande Agricole, told reporters.
* "We know there's going to be a US yield deterioration and that will have an impact on production."
* Concern about declining corn supply has offered support to wheat even as the latter has seen global availability boosted by a rebound in output in Black Sea producers.
* Operators expect wheat to benefit from some demand transfer from corn due to the latter's high prices.
* "The price of US corn is the highest among grain (export) prices in the world currently," Labouille said.
* Rapeseed futures were also firm, with the November contract up 2.00 euros or 0.45 percent at 449.00 euros a tonne.
* A smaller 2011 European Union crop, in which a slump in German output outweighed a large French harvest, would draw down stocks further and leave the EU even more dependent on
imports from Ukraine and Australia, Labouille said.
* ODA expects EU stocks to fall to 1 million tonnes at the end of 2011/12 from 1.15 million in 2010/11, with imports seen climbing to 3.2 million tonnes from 2.72 million last season.
GERMANY
* Wheat prices in Germany, the European Union's second-biggest producer, have been stable in the past few days, with bread wheat prices at the Hamburg and Rostock export ports remaining strong.
* "The market this week was very defensive," one German trader said.
* Export demand is weak while German wheat prices remain high and not competitive on the world market, traders said.
* Wheat is quoted at 220-221 euros a tonne for September delivered Hamburg/Rostock, traders said.
ITALY
* In Italy, a major grain importer in Europe, wheat was traded at around levels set at a key weekly session in Bologna on Thursday, with concerns about tight global supplies of high quality grain supporting high grade wheat and strong maize prices underpinning demand for lower grade wheat, traders said.
* Bread quality wheat for prompt delivery was traded at 225-230 euros a tonne, without delivery charges, while local high grade wheat was traded at 255-260 euros a tonne, traders said.
Copyright Reuters, 2011
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