Paris wheat hits one-week low as Chicago slides, euro rises

PARIS: Euronext wheat futures fell on Wednesday to a one-week low, pressured by a stronger euro and a sharp fall in U.S. prices.

Benchmark March milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext settled 2.00 euros, or 1.0 percent lower at 205.25 euros ($234.52) a tonne, its weakest level since Dec. 12.

Chicago futures dropped almost 2 percent in U.S. trading.

The euro rose against a broadly weaker dollar ahead of a closely watched U.S. Federal Reserve policy statement, making grain priced in euros more expensive overseas.

After hitting multi-month highs last week, European and U.S. prices have eased amid doubts over how much export demand can be captured once supplies in top wheat exporter Russia run low.

Traders are awaiting a meeting of export specialists with Russian agriculture ministry officials on Friday for clues as to export availability for the second half of the July-June season.

In France, port loading data suggested French wheat was continuing to claim large sales to Algeria, although traders were awaiting the next Algerian tender to gauge the extent of Argentine competition.

Volumes on Euronext were light, with year-end assemblies of French grain cooperatives and a general slowdown of activity before the Christmas and New Year period reducing market participation.

Financial investors increased their net long position in Euronext's milling wheat futures and options in the week to Dec. 14, data published by Euronext showed.