PARIS: European wheat futures slipped on Tuesday from an earlier four-week high, pressured by chart resistance, a pullback in Chicago and uncertainty over demand, traders said.
December milling wheat on the Paris-based Euronext exchange was down 1.7% at 324.25 euros ($325.00) a tonne by 1544 GMT.
It earlier reached 332.00 euros, its highest since Aug. 1, as it extended sharp gains from Monday before facing technical resistance around the 330 euro level.
Chicago wheat also fell, retreating from a seven-week high set on Monday.
A drop in Chicago corn after a rally linked to US crop concerns weighed on wheat along with wider economic worries and unease over news that Taiwan had fired warning shots at a Chinese drone, dealers said.
The demand outlook for western European wheat was also being clouded by signs of renewed competition from Black Sea supplies, with increasing grain shipments from Ukraine under a wartime corridor agreement and falling prices for Russian wheat.
“With low export prices being offered from the Black Sea, it looks like new German export business will remain depressed if the Ukrainian shipments continue to expand,” a German trader said.
There was talk of cheap offers of Russian wheat in a tender being held by Algeria’s state grain buyer on Tuesday.
Lower protein in this year’s French and German harvests was also raising questions about how export supplies will be sourced.
“The quality varies regionally and the market is now assessing where supplies with good protein levels can be found,” another trader said of the German crop.
In France, consultancy Agritel increased slightly its estimate of the French wheat crop to 33.63 million tonnes but was still below the five-year average.
It said a fast early pace of French exports this season would need to slow, partly as expectations for the smallest maize harvest in over 20 years would require more wheat to be used in livestock feed.
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