Euronext wheat futures rise for second day

17 Jul, 2020

PARIS: Euronext wheat futures rose for a second day on Wednesday, lifted by an accelerating rally in Chicago as reduced estimates for some northern hemisphere harvests maintained uncertainty about global supply.

September milling wheat on the Paris-based Euronext exchange settled up 1.75 euros, or 0.9%, at 187.25 euros ($213.54) a tonne.

Chicago wheat climbed more than 3% in US trading, with a weaker dollar adding support.

Euronext, which had rallied to a seven-week high of 189.75 euros last Friday, remained underpinned by mixed harvest results in exporting countries like France and Russia.

Consultancy SovEcon on Tuesday cut its forecast for Russia's 2020 wheat crop, in keeping with a trend of reduced estimates for the Russian crop.

In France, traders continued to report poor yields, particularly in western France, although results appeared to be improving as harvesting moved northwards.

"Wheat yields are disappointing but not as bad as in barley," a French broker said.

In Germany, traders were taking a relaxed view of two new forecasts of a smaller German wheat crop from the country's farming cooperatives and French consultancy Agritel, with recent rain seen as helping crops in the run-up to harvesting.

"The latest crop estimates show that rain in the past fortnight has been beneficial if anything and there is no cause for concern at this moment," one German trader said.

"The barley harvest is in full swing and yields are looking positive which bodes well for wheat."

Wheat from other exporting countries in the Baltic Sea and Black Sea region is currently looking cheaper than Germany in export markets, so major German export sales are unlikely in the near future, the trader said.

Euronext data on Wednesday showed financial investors swung to a net long position in the exchange's wheat derivatives last week.

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