PARIS/HAMBURG: European wheat prices climbed on Tuesday in light trade, with US markets closed for Independence Day, supported by renewed speculation the Black Sea grain corridor won’t be extended.

Front-month September milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext settled at 228.00 euros a tonne, up 1.75 euros.

“Markets are still in something of a state of shock about Friday’s forecast of larger US corn plantings by the USDA,” one German trader said. “With Chicago closed for a holiday today, the next focus will be on US weather.”

Cheap offers of Russian and Romanian wheat depressed export prospects for western EU wheat, even with uncertainty about Ukrainian sales.

“I think it’s generally expected that the Ukrainian safe shipping channel will not be extended unless Russia gets new concessions on sanctions and concessions seem to be on the way,” the trader said.

Demand was picking up after the Eid holidays in the Middle East and North Africa and a new soft wheat tender from Tunisia will be welcome to provide a snapshot of actual market prices.

Germany’s 2023 winter wheat harvest will fall some 7% on the year to an estimated 20.59 million metric tons after crops suffered from hot, dry weather, the association of German farmers DBV said on Tuesday. “The forecast from the farmers’ association shows that the rain in the past fortnight was too late to prevent harvest losses,” another German trader said.

“This is disappointing but not a disaster. This would mean a reduced German wheat export surplus but with Russian and Romanian wheat looking so cheap Germany is not expected to sell much in export markets anyway in coming months.