EU Wheat Closing Comments

EU wheat futures closed Monday mixed. November London wheat finished the day GBP0.40 higher at GBP104.25/tonne, and November Paris wheat closed EUR0.25 lower at EUR139.25/tonne.

London wheat did well to close mostly in positive territory, with the pound hitting a 1 1/2 year high of 1.23 against the euro, and also breaking through 1.51 against the dollar.

Hot and dry conditions in the UK and France may be causing a few concerns for the final stages of grain filling ahead of the harvest.

There was probably also an element of book-squaring ahead of Wednesday's USDA crop reports.

The German harvest looks like it may be a couple of weeks behind normal, which might just tighten up the spot market a little. Meanwhile harvesting in Ukraine has stalled on widespread thunderstorms, the market there was closed today for a national holiday.

The French harvest is likely to start this week.

Egypt bought 120,000 MT of Russian wheat over the weekend, at prices way under French and US origin.