PARIS: European wheat dropped more than 2% on Monday after hitting a 3-week high in the previous session, following a fall on US markets and still pressured by hefty global supplies and Russian competition. Benchmark December milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext settled at 238.50 euros ($254.86) a metric ton, down 2.1%.

By the same time most traded wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade was also down 2.1% at $5.91-3/4 a bushel with poor export demand for US supplies in focus.

EU wheat hit a three-week high last week on first signs of renewed export demand, including from China. These sales were confirmed on Monday with some traders reporting that China bought as much as 600,000 tonnes of French wheat in their first purchase of the season. Meanwhile Algeria launched a tender on Monday to buy both wheat and barley, with results expected later in the week.

A dispute over agricultural trade created a rift on Monday between Ukraine and some its strongest allies in the European Union after three member states imposed unilateral measures to restrict imports from the war-torn country.

Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced restrictions on imports on Friday after the European Commission decided not to extend a ban on sales within Ukraine’s five EU neighbours, which also include Romania and Bulgaria.

Operators awaited to have a clearer picture of the impact on Australian crops from a severe heatwave hitting the country. In maize, the European Union’s crop monitoring service MARS on Monday reduced its forecast of this year’s EU average yield by 3%, mainly due to a worsened outlook for summer crops in Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece.