EU Wheat Close

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 20:12 | Categorized as

17/12/10 -- EU wheat closed mixed but mostly higher Friday with Jan London wheat up GBP0.50 to GBP190.50/tonne, and new crop Nov GBP0.75 higher at GBP159.50/tonne. Jan Paris wheat rose EUR0.25 to EUR236.25/tonne and Nov fell EUR0.50 to EUR212.75/tonne.

On the week as a whole Jan London wheat rose just GBP0.50/tonne, with Jan Paris wheat falling by EUR5.75/tonne.

The market appears to be slipping into holiday mode, after months of big money moves we seem to have reverted to the "good old days" of prices moving by just fractions of a pound or euro each day.

That's maybe no bad thing. It looks likely at the moment, barring unforseen huge upsets, that prices will probably close the year fairly close to where we are now.

US analytical company Informa did their best to throw a spanner in the works today by dropping their prediction for US corn plantings next spring from 93.1 million acres to 90.76 million.

They also reduced their US winter wheat area to 39.5 million acres from 39.7 million last month.

Talk is now surfacing that US wheat in the major producing areaas of the High Plains may see significant abandonment this season. "The La Nina effect may be to blame for intense drying now under way," say Martell Crop Projections.

"Wheat producers are often cattlemen as well, exercising the option of turning beef cows onto wheat that has deteriorated from drought. A crop not worth harvesting may still have value as a feed grain. Moreover, in spring, wheat producers would have the option of tearing up badly damaged wheat and planting to another crop, like like sorghum," they say.