EU Wheat Close

30/06/11 -- EU grains closed sharply lower with the exception of nearby July London wheat which ended down GBP0.50 to GBP171.00/tonne. New crop Nov was GBP11.45/tonne lower at GBP157.05/tonne. Nov Paris wheat closed EUR15.25/tonne lower at EUR184.50/tonne whilst May12 fell EUR13.00/tonne to EUR192.75/tonne.

There's an open interest of less than 100 lots on July London wheat, so I guess that we can largely ignore that from hereon in. New crop London wheat closed GBP11.40-11.45/tonne weaker with the 2012 crop shedding GBP7.50/tonne.

This was the lowest close for November London wheat since March 15th and the lowest for November Paris wheat since October.

A stunningly bearish USDA planting estimate for this year's US corn crop was the catalyst, coming in at 92.3 million acres, 1.6 million up on their previous forecast and 0.8 million higher than even the highest trade estimate.

For good measure June 1st US corn stocks were higher than anticipated at 3.67 billion bushels, which again was higher than even the highest trade estimate.

Chicago corn opened down the 30c daily limit and stayed there throughout the duration of the remainder of the European session, with limitless front month July being down more than 80c at one stage before recovering slightly.

Having dumped around 85,000 contracts in the last two weeks (around 10.8 MMT) it will be interesting to discover later tonight how much more length fund money was estimated to have liquidated today.

Chicago wheat was also caught in the crossfire approaching limit down (-60c) itself towards the close of play despite a largely neutral USDA report.