PARIS: European wheat prices rose in late trade on Wednesday, tracking US markets, but traders said it remained pressured by strong competition from the Black Sea region.

Benchmark March milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext finished up 1.25 euros, or 0.4%, at 295 euros a tonne.

In its February World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, the US Department of Agriculture raised its wheat harvest forecasts for the European Union, Russia and Ukraine by 500,000 tonnes each, to 37 million, 43.50 million and 13.50 million tonnes respectively.

World ending stocks for the current season were pegged at 269.34 million tonnes, above the average analyst estimate of 268.56 million tonnes.

Algeria’s state grains agency OAIC was believed to have resumed buying milling wheat on Wednesday in an international tender that originally closed on Tuesday, European traders said in initial assessments.