Paris wheat hits contract lows on good Black Sea weather, strong euro

PARIS/HAMBURG: Euronext wheat slid to new contract lows on Monday as rain forecast in the Black Sea export region looked set to increase supplies among rival exporters while export-punishing euro strength added to doubts over demand for Western European wheat.

September wheat, the most-active position on Euronext’s Paris-based futures market, was down 2% at 203.25 euros ($230.32) a metric ton at 1516 GMT.

It earlier fell to 202.50 euros, below a previous life-of-contract low from last Wednesday and a weakest second-month price since March 2024.

Chicago wheat futures fell more than 1%. “The rain forecast for the coming two weeks is boosting the Black Sea production outlook,” a futures dealer said. “There’s also limited demand for the upcoming season.”

Charts showing widespread rain in the Black Sea zone further allayed harvest worries in Russia, the world’s biggest wheat exporter, after analysts said frosts there last week did not appear to have caused significant damage to crops.

Weekend storms that broke a hot spell in France have also tempered drought concerns in the European Union’s largest wheat grower, though localised showers may not have relieved some parched areas in the north, traders said.

After recent hopes that price lows would revive France’s export outlook, including possible sales to Egypt, talk that competitive US wheat may have attracted demand in Morocco had cooled export sentiment in Western Europe.

“US wheat is very cheap, about the cheapest in the world, so US sales to North African buyers in competition to EU wheat are expected,” a German trader said. “Demand is also weak, with hardly any purchase tenders in the market.”

Barley continued to drive grain export activity in France, with a continuing flow of late-season shipments to the Middle East, as well as talk of new-crop sales to China.