Euronext wheat futures little changed

Euronext wheat futures were little changed on Friday, in a lull following a volatile week marked by worries over global trade tensions and weather risks to wheat crops. Benchmark December milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext was 0.25 euro, or 0.1 percent, lower at 180.00 euros ($209.36) a tonne by 1607 GMT.
The contract had recovered from a one-month low of 174.75 euros struck on Tuesday but was still down 1 percent over the week. "There's a bit of a wait-and-see mood," one futures dealer said. "I think there's scope for the market to rebound. We're tending to track Chicago but the risk lies with the Black Sea crops."
US wheat edged lower on Friday. An estimate by consultancy Agritel on Thursday projected Russian wheat production in Russia would fall 21.5 percent from last year to 67.4 million tonnes, turning attention back to weather threats in major wheat-growing countries. In France, 75 percent of soft wheat was rated good or excellent as of June 18, farm office FranceAgriMer said on Friday.
It estimated the winter barley harvest as 1 percent complete by last Monday and traders expect field work to have advanced quickly during a warm, dry spell this week. Cash market premiums in Hamburg were little changed, with traders assessing the impact of rain on parched crops in north and east Germany. New crop standard bread wheat with 12 percent protein for September delivery in Hamburg was offered for sale unchanged at 3 euros over Paris December.
"A decent volume of rain fell in the north on Thursday which will be very welcome but it is not in enough to solve the problem," one German trader said.
"More rain is forecast in coming days but we will have to wait to see how much actually falls." Dry, warm weather in recent weeks has led to reduced expectations for northern European regions, including parts of Germany, Poland and Scandinavia. Polish wheat prices have risen in the last week because of weather concern and stronger domestic demand.
"The weather is still mainly hot and dry with some thunderstorms in the whole country but soil moisture content is definitely too low, which could result in lower yields especially for spring grains," one Polish trader said.