PARIS: European wheat futures edged higher on Friday, recovering from a three-day fall with support from a weaker euro and firmer prices in Chicago.
December milling wheat, the most active position on Euronext’s Paris-based futures, was up 0.9 percent at 193.00 euros (USD225.08) a metric ton by 1711 GMT.
For October, the front-month position was up 3.6percent and set to break a run of declines in the seven previous months. The Euronext benchmark had hit a two-month high at the start of the week amid hopes that US-Chinese trade talks would revive agricultural flows between the two countries, before wheat markets lost ground as agricultural commitments between Washington and Beijing focused on US soybeans.
However, a slide in the euro to a three-month low against the dollar on Friday helped underpin Euronext by maintaining the export competitiveness of western European wheat.
Traders said French wheat remained competitive in Morocco, its main overseas market, though Argentine prices continued to be attractive too.
A busy loading programme in France this month has also kept physical premiums firm amid slow selling by farmers. Abundant global supply still hung over wheat markets.
The start of wheat harvesting in Argentina and Australia, which are forecast to bring in bumper crops, and improved planting weather in Europe and the Black Sea region were reinforcing expectations of large surpluses in major export zones. In France, soft wheat sowing remained ahead of the average pace of recent years following a mainly dry October.
Farm office France-AgriMer estimated that 68percent of the expected area for next year’s harvest had been sown by Monday, against a five-year average of 61 percent for the same week. Showers this week and more rain forecast next week in France are expected to help the early growth of wheat crops by boosting soil moisture.
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