PARIS: European wheat hit new contract lows on Monday, still pressured by ample global supplies notably in major competitor Russia and the euro's strength against the dollar.
December milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext was down 1.2 percent by 1520 GMT, on its psychological support of 160 euros a tonne.
Pressure also came from Chicago, where wheat futures were the most active contract and were down 0.85 percent at $4.38-3/4 a bushel.
Russia's agriculture minister said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV on Monday it expects the country's 2017/18 grain exports at 40 million tonnes, which would be a record level.
The estimate compares with a previous ministry estimate of 38 million and comes after another upward revision by consultancy SovEcon on Friday, which now sees Russian grain exports at 43.6 million tonnes. Of this, 32 million tonnes would be wheat, it said.
The near continuous fall in prices seen over the past six weeks was not sufficient to make French wheat competitive, traders said, pointing to Saudi Arabia's latest purchase as an example.
Some traders said the purchase by the Saudi Grains Organization (SAGO) of 490,000 tonnes of wheat in a tender at an average price of $218.19 a tonne reflected a price of around $184 per tonne for Baltic and German wheat with 12.5 percent protein, while French wheat, despite a lower protein, would be closer to $188 a tonne.
In Germany, rain over the weekend and on Monday again disrupted wheat harvesting in north German export production regions, creating the prospect of more quality losses after repeated rain throughout August.
Between 40 to 50 percent of wheat in the major north German export regions is still in the fields waiting to be cut, traders said.
"There is concern that the final areas to be harvested will only reach animal feed wheat standard and that German wheat export supplies in the new season will be considerably lower than in the past year," one German trader said.
"Saudi Arabia made a big purchase of 490,000 tonnes of wheat on Monday, but there is not a lot of optimism that German wheat will be supplied after the problems with harvest-time rain. I think a lot of the Saudi wheat will be sourced from the Baltic States and possibly Poland."
Traders and mills reported problems in Hagberg falling numbers and specific weights, two key milling criteria, but said protein content is reasonable. There is also concern about sprouting and mycotoxins in the final areas to be gathered.
Germany's farm cooperatives association now forecasts that Germany's 2017 wheat crop will fall 0.5 percent to 24.34 million tonnes after persistent rain damaged crops. In July the association had forecast the harvest would rise 3.8 percent on the year to 25.39 million tonnes.
Standard bread wheat with 12 percent protein content was offered for sale little changed from Friday at 3.5 to 4 euros over the Paris December contract for September delivery in Hamburg. Buyers were offering about 3 euros over.
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