EU wheat futures down again, physical market steady on exports

PARIS: Euronext wheat futures fell for a sixth straight session on Friday to touch a seven-week low, as big Australian and Canadian harvests tempered talk of tightening global supplies.

A fresh 2-1/2-year high for the euro against the dollar also maintained pressure on Euronext prices.

March milling wheat, the most active contract on the Paris-based Euronext exchange, settled down 1.25 euros, or 0.6%, at 202.00 euros ($245.29) a tonne.

In late trading it reached 201.25 euros, its weakest since Oct. 14, but held a chart support zone around 200-201 euros.

The benchmark Paris contract has lost about 10 euros in the past two weeks.

Chicago wheat also fell to trade near a two-month low.

"The increasing size of the Australian, Canadian and Indian wheat crops as well as a proposed increase in the Russian export quota combine to signal ample wheat supplies and a bearish feel to markets," British merchant Frontier Agriculture said in a note.

However, physical markets in Europe again held up on steady export activity.

In France, more loadings were scheduled for China after the Asian country was the biggest overseas destination for French wheat for the second month running in November.

In Germany, ships currently loading wheat include two vessels with a combined 90,000 tonnes for Iran and two ships with 95,000 tonnes for Algeria.

"There is a very active programme of ship loadings in German ports with about 600,000 tonnes of wheat to be exported in December against over 450,000 tonnes in November," one trader said.

"It looks like being a busy end of the year for German wheat exports."

Standard bread wheat with 12% protein for December delivery in Hamburg was offered for sale unchanged at about 5.0 euros over Paris March. Buyers were offering about 4 euros over.

Euronext data showed its volume of commodity derivative transactions, mostly wheat, fell 24% in November after a record in October, but was 39% above the level in November last year.