PARIS: European wheat fell on Monday as traders were reassured by welcome rainfall in the United States, while rapeseed futures tumbled due to improved outlook for next season’s oilseed harvests and a fall in crude oil prices.

Most traded September on Paris-based Euronext milling wheat futures on Paris-based Euronext, was down 0.3% by 1610 GMT to 378.75 euros ($398.45) a tonne.

In Chicago, most traded wheat was also down 0.3% at $10.52-3/4 a bushel.

“There were some concerns about the US plains. Now that there have been rains, it’s quieting down,” a trader said.

Front-month May wheat, the last milling wheat contract for the current season on Euronext, was up 0.6% at 403.25 euros a tonne in technical adjustments ahead of its expiry on May 10. It had hit a new all-time high of 427.75 euros a tonne last week.

Ukraine could lose tens of millions of tonnes of grain due to Russia’s control of Black Sea shipping, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday.

The European Commission on Friday had maintained its forecast of record 2022/23 European Union soft wheat exports at 40 million tonnes due to limited Ukrainian supplies.

Rapeseed futures fell more than 5% as the whole oilseed complex was pressured by improved weather in the United States that benefited soybeans and a larger sunflower seed crop expected in Europe.

Concerns over economic growth, notably in China where widespread COVID-19 shutdowns disrupted production and supply chains, and the fall in crude oil prices were also weighing on the oilseed complex.

Strategie Grains has increased its forecast for this year’s sunflower crop in the European Union to take account of a rise in area as farmers use an EU authorization to use fallow land to compensate for potential shortages in Black Sea supplies.