PARIS: Euronext wheat fell on Friday to a one-month low as diplomatic initiatives raised hopes for a recovery in war-disrupted Black Sea exports, though continued attacks by Russia and Ukraine helped underpin prices, traders said.
Benchmark December milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext settled down 0.3percent at €236.75 (USD269.73) a metric ton after the day session. The contract earlier dropped to €233.75, its lowest since August 25, with a chart gap created during an opening fall adding to selling momentum. But it later recovered to fill the gap and trade only slightly lower.
A slide in Chicago wheat, which fell around 3percent before paring losses, pressured Euronext. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday the United States had proposed a trilateral meeting with Ukraine and Russia to discuss efforts to end the conflict, while the Kremlin said a trilateral meeting could happen soon.
Turkey, meanwhile, is pursuing efforts to broker a Black Sea truce. Large long positions held by investors and careful buying by wheat importers have also encouraged the market off multi-year highs struck in early September.
“The market has been selling off with longs who are tired and consumers who will wait,” a futures trader said. Russia could quickly restart up to 80percent of its grain terminal capacity in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov if diplomatic efforts result in a ceasefire, a Reuters analysis of industry data showed on Friday.
Continuing attacks by Russia and Ukraine, however, have tempered expectations of near-term de-escalation.
Grain markets also drew support from comments by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who said Washington expected to release on Monday details on the outcome of trade negotiations with China. That offset initial disappointment over the absence of news on agricultural trade during a US-China summit this week.
In France, a vessel is loading a first shipment of wheat for Yemen in years, LSEG data showed, as Black Sea disruption generates some unusual demand for French wheat. French traders are watching to see if rain forecast for the week ahead materialises ahead of cereal planting and after record drought reduced rapeseed sowing.
Comments