EU Wheat Ends Narrowly Mixed

15/10/10 -- EU wheat futures closed narrowly mixed in a relatively uneventful day with November London wheat down GBP0.25 at GBP162.50/tonne, and Nov Paris wheat up EUR1.25 to EUR214.75/tonne.

The euro was a little bit weaker today for once, which helped support Paris wheat. The pound rose above 1.61 at one stage against the US dollar, but slipped back below 1.60 by the close of play.

Open interest in November Paris wheat is declining, but only relatively slowly given that we are only three and a half weeks away from the contract's expiry on Nov 10th.

The pace that Brussels is issuing export licences is slowing, with only 253,000 MT of soft wheat cleared for export during the past week. Barley intervention auctions will begin on November 24th.

The USDA said that weekly export sales for the week ending Oct 7th only reached 377,000 MT compared to expectations of 500-700,000 MT, spurring ideas that world demand maybe isn't that great even with a weak dollar.

The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange estimate the 2010/11 Argentine wheat crop at 11.3-12.0 MMT, an increase of 50-60% on last season.