EU Wheat Ends Lower On Forecast Rains

EU wheat futures closed a little lower Wednesday as the weather in western areas turned cooler and wetter.

November London feed wheat closed GBP0.50 lower at GBP108.75/tonne, with November Paris wheat ending down EUR0.75 at EUr143.75/tonne.

Parisian losses were tempered by the continued weakness of the euro. The market remains extremely nervous over the possibilities of an escalation of fiscal problems in the eurozone.

Already this week Spain's Central Bank has had to come to the rescue of one lender, and hastily brokered the merger of four regional savings banks into one.

Now we have Germany looking at extending their already badly received plan on short selling to cover trading in all shares.

This continual moving of the goalposts looks like undermining the euro for some time yet. The pound pushed through 1.18 against the single currency, close to its best levels since last June. the euro meanwhile fell to its lowest against the dollar since April 2006.

The weather in Europe has turned cooler and wetter, scattered showers across northern France may have brought some drought relief in the past 24 hours. Rainfall in the UK thus far has been pretty light.

Ukraine today warned that winterkill losses may have been quite severe, whilst reports out of Russia also suggest much heavier losses than in recent seasons.