Paris wheat pauses after rally, rapeseed hits near 8-year high
- May milling wheat, now the most active contract on Paris-based Euronext, was down 0.25 euro, or 0.1%, at 229.00 euros ($278.12) a tonne.
- The contract earlier equalled Monday's one-month high of 229.75 euros but again failed to breach resistance at 230 euros.
PARIS: Euronext wheat edged lower on Tuesday as short-covering in front-month futures abated and traders assessed risks to crops from cold spells in US and European wheat belts.
Prices held near recent highs as steady export demand and tight feed grain supply were expected to continue eroding wheat stocks.
May milling wheat, now the most active contract on Paris-based Euronext, was down 0.25 euro, or 0.1%, at 229.00 euros ($278.12) a tonne at 1349 GMT.
The contract earlier equalled Monday's one-month high of 229.75 euros but again failed to breach resistance at 230 euros.
March futures were down 0.2% at 239.00 euros. They had surged on Friday to 242.75 euros, the highest front-month price since May 2013, as market participants covered open positions in the run-up to the contract's expiry.
Euronext rapeseed saw sharper price moves on Tuesday, with front-month May futures adding as much as 2.3% to 471.75 euros, the highest front-month price since April 2013.
A rally in US soybeans amid concern over harvest delays in Brazil added to recent support from rising prices for vegetable oils and crude oil, traders said.
On Europe's physical wheat market, exporter purchase offers in Poland for 12.5% protein wheat rose over the psychologically-important 1,000 zloty level to 1,025 zloty (227.3 euros) a tonne for March/April delivery, up 30 zloty on the week.
"Exports from Poland are still booming, with small vessels loading wheat and other grains for the EU market," one Polish trader said.
At the port of Gdynia, a large vessel was loading with 30,000 tonnes of wheat for North Africa.
"Polish millers and feed producers had to increase their prices to compete for supplies going for export," the trader added.
Traders continued to see limited impact on European Union crops from freezing conditions earlier this month.
However, a latest cold spell in major wheat exporter Russia was being monitored amid reports that crops had less protective snow cover than previously.
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