Tuesday, 10 November 2015 23:42
PARIS: European wheat futures fell to a one-week low on Tuesday, pulled down by another fall on US markets, where the benchmark contract fell below $ 5, and slack export demand despite ongoing euro weakness against the dollar.
Benchmark December on Paris-based Euronext milling wheat futures settled 3.00 euros or 1.6 percent lower at 180.75 euros a tonne, the lowest since Nov. 4 and below its 100-day moving average support at 181.50 euros.
By the same time, US wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were trading 2.3 percent lower at $ 4.90 a bushel.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday raised its forecasts of US 2015/16 ending stocks for wheat, corn and soybeans more than analysts expected.
As part of notable changes for wheat, it lowered its 2015 Australian wheat crop estimate by 1 million tonnes to 26 million tonnes, still above market expectations, but lifted is estimate of the wheat crop in the European Union by 2 million tonnes to 157 million — now above last year’s estimate.
There was little change for the Black Sea region where it cut Russia’s crop by 0.5 million tonnes to 60.5 million and left unchanged its estimate for Ukraine at 27 million tonnes.
“USDA is obviously not concerned by any dryness issues in Russia or Ukraine for the wheat crop,” a trader noted.
However, USDA cut by 2 million tonnes its estimate of Ukraine’s maize (corn) crop this year to 23 million.
Egypt bought 60,000 tonnes of Russian and 55,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat in its latest tender, shrugging offers for more expensive French wheat.
Eyes were now turning to Algeria’s which is holding a tender to buy optional-origin milling wheat for shipment in January. The deadline for bids is on Nov. 12, traders said.
Feed wheat futures in London also fell with November settling 1.3 percent lower at 113.30 pounds a tonne.
There continued to be concern about the slow pace of exports with Britain a net importer in the first quarter of the 2015/16 season.
“It is pointing to an ever increasing carryover stock at the end of the year,” said analyst Jack Watts of Britain’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.
Final results from an AHDB survey, issued on Tuesday, confirmed the quality of Britain wheat crop this year was generally good.
