EU Wheat Closing Comments
EU wheat futures closed higher Friday with May London feed wheat ending up GBP1.40 at GBP97.40/tonne and May Paris milling wheat up EUR0.25 at EUR125.75/tonne.
Farmers remain reluctant sellers, and are bow starting to busy themselves on the land as the weather finally warms up.
Coceral pegged EU-27 soft wheat production only modestly higher for 2010 at 133.1 MMT, 1 MMT lower than Strategie Grains recent estimated.
UK output is seen at 15.7 MMT, up from 14.3 MMT in 2009, whilst French production is seen slightly lower than last season at 38.3 MMT with Germany seeing a crop broadly unchanged at 25.2 MMT.
Overall the numbers are perhaps a little lower than they might have been.
For the record, barley production is seen down around 5.5 MMT to 56.6 MMT, being overtaken by corn as the EU's second largest grain crop with output there seen at 57.5 MMT.
Whilst Chicago wheat was setting fresh contract lows in the US, there isn't maybe any need for EU futures to follow America's lead with prices here already competitive with the Black Sea.
This has been adequately highlighted by EU wheat sales to all sorts of unusual destinations in the past couple of weeks.
Maybe nine months of being in the driving seat has tired the Russians and Ukrainians out?
Farmers remain reluctant sellers, and are bow starting to busy themselves on the land as the weather finally warms up.
Coceral pegged EU-27 soft wheat production only modestly higher for 2010 at 133.1 MMT, 1 MMT lower than Strategie Grains recent estimated.
UK output is seen at 15.7 MMT, up from 14.3 MMT in 2009, whilst French production is seen slightly lower than last season at 38.3 MMT with Germany seeing a crop broadly unchanged at 25.2 MMT.
Overall the numbers are perhaps a little lower than they might have been.
For the record, barley production is seen down around 5.5 MMT to 56.6 MMT, being overtaken by corn as the EU's second largest grain crop with output there seen at 57.5 MMT.
Whilst Chicago wheat was setting fresh contract lows in the US, there isn't maybe any need for EU futures to follow America's lead with prices here already competitive with the Black Sea.
This has been adequately highlighted by EU wheat sales to all sorts of unusual destinations in the past couple of weeks.
Maybe nine months of being in the driving seat has tired the Russians and Ukrainians out?
