EU Wheat Closes Mixed

EU wheat futures closed mixed Monday, with May Paris milling wheat ending up EUR0.75 at EUR138.25/tonne, and London May feed wheat closing down GBP2.20 at GBP109.80/tonne.

Paris wheat gained support from a stringer US close Friday, whilst London fell on ideas that Friday's close of around GBP4/tonne higher was overdone.

Still, a sharply weaker pound on the back of bad news all-round from the UK banking sector may under-pin UK wheat, at least for now.

The outlook for the euro isn't much better mind, with today's Daily Telegraph reporting a sizable increase in short-selling on the euro vs the dollar in anticipation of a sharp downwards move from the single currency.

I'd like to be short on both (the pound and the euro) viz-a-viz the dollar, so maybe we will see Paris & London wheat rise if I am right.

Wednesday's USDA report seems unlikely to throw up too many surprises for wheat.

The main bullish factor that seems likely to send wheat higher over the next few months will probably be the gradual realisation that world production is set to shrink quite sharply in 2009.