PARIS: Euronext wheat futures fell to a three-month low on Monday as weakness in Chicago and a stronger euro added to technical pressure from last week’s steep fall, traders said.

September milling wheat unofficially closed 2% down at 350 euros a tonne after touching 349.25 euros for the lowest front-month price since March 29.

Chicago wheat turned lower to give up a small gain as the euro rose against the dollar.

Seasonal supply pressure from the start of US and European harvesting was also encouraging selling.

However, traders said that wider concern over an expected economic downturn had fuelled the pullback in wheat, masking persisting supply and demand tensions.

Rising export premiums for French wheat suggested strong demand for European Union supplies this summer amid renewed demand from importers and uncertainty over how much grain Ukraine and Russia will be able to export owing to the war and related sanctions.

“Fundamental tensions could sooner or later resurface and take control of the wheat market again,” consultancy Agritel said in a note.

The European Union’s crop monitoring service MARS on Monday projected Russia’s 2022 wheat crop at 88.8 million tonnes, joining other forecasters in forecasting a record Russian crop.

In France, farmers had harvested 2% of the soft wheat crop and 26% of the winter barley area by June 20, farm office FranceAgriMer said on Friday.

Storms that brought showers are expected to have slowed harvesting last week but could benefit still-developing crops in the north of the country after a recent heatwave, traders said.

In exports, traders were assessing a purchase of 495,000 tonnes of wheat by Saudi state buyer SAGO, with offers in the tender viewed as competitive against current market rates.