EU Grains Mostly Higher

12/12/16 -- EU grains closed mixed but mostly higher on the day, except expiring Dec 16 Paris wheat which was sharply lower in technical trade.

At the finish Jan 17 London wheat was up GBP0.25/tonne at GBP135.15/tonne, Dec 16 Paris wheat plunged EUR6.25/tonne higher at EUR155.50/tonne, Jan 17 Paris corn ended EUR0.25/tonne firmer at EUR164.25/tonne and Feb 17 Paris rapeseed closed EUR1.00/tonne steadier at EUR413.00/tonne.

Saudi Arabia bought 725 000 MT of hard 12.5% milling wheat, probably said to be a mixture of US and South American origin for shipment Feb/April. Algeria tendered for 100,000 MT of Jan milling wheat. Jordan are tendering for 25,000 MT of optional origin hard wheat.

Strong crude oil prices lent some support to already firm rapeseed values, although soybeans and palm oil were a bit lower.

The Black Sea region is experiencing it's first serious cold spell of the winter, which may cause some shipping and transport disruptions.

Ukraine seaports shipped out 639.2 TMT of grains last week, up from 550.9 TMT the previous week. That included 188.3 TMT of wheat, 429.9 TMT of corn and 17 TMT of barley. The top homes were Egypt, India and Tunisia.

In Ukraine winter grain emergence is seen at 93%. of which 83% is said to be in good to satisfactory condition and 17% weak/thinned.

Russia's 2016 harvest is placed at 97.1% done on 45.9 million ha for a crop of 125.5 MMT so far. That includes a corn harvest that's 87.87% done at 14.9 MMT.