EU Wheat Close

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 22:43 | Categorized as

04/01/11 -- EU wheat futures closed mixed Tuesday. London wheat was mostly higher playing catch up from Monday's closure with Jan up GBP1.25 to GBP200.25/tonne and Nov GBP0.25 higher at GBP170.75/tonne. Conversely Paris wheat was lower with soon to expire Jan down EUR3.50 at EUR253.50/tonne and Nov EUR4.50 lower at EUR224.00/tonne.

Paris wheat was under pressure as the euro climbed to a 3-week high against the US dollar, and also in sympathy will a lower US market, retreating from yesterday's 28-month highs.

Profit-taking kicked in this afternoon in the US market after recent strong gains, encouraged by crude oil suddenly slumping by almost USD2.50/barrel to levels back below the USD90/barrel mark.

In London May opened at an intraday and all time contract high of GBP207.50/tonne before falling back to close at GBP204.00/tonne, GBP1.00 lower on the day.

Fundamentally though little has changed. Weather problems persist for wheat in Australia, Russia, China, North Africa and the US. Meanwhile demand stays strong wit Turkey today announcing it's intention to buy 300,000 MT of wheat on the international stage.

The weather situation in Australia just keeps getting worse. Three separate areas of Eastern Australia saw La Nina rains reach 4 times normal levels in December, according to QT Weather. The next 3-4 days will see heavy rains continue over SE Queensland, they add.