EU Grain Little Changed With US Market Closed, Although Rapeseed Jumps To 5-Month High

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 08:02 | Categorized as

17/02/14 -- EU grains finished a desperately dull day, in desperately dull fashion. America was closed for the President's Day holiday and Europe reacted in a typically subdued fashion.

The session closed with Mar 14 London wheat ending unchanged at GBP152.50/tonne, and with new crop Nov 14 London wheat closing GBP0.35/tonne easier at GBP146.65/tonne. Mar 14 Paris wheat was down EUR0.25/tonne to EUR198.25/tonne, Mar 14 Paris corn was up EUR1.00/tonne to EUR173.25/tonne, whilst May 14 Paris rapeseed extended recent gains, adding EUR5.25/tonne to close at EUR388.25/tonne.

The close on Paris rapeseed was the highest for a front month since last September

Fresh news was very thin on the ground, as you might expect, and less than 100 lots traded in London wheat all day.

The pound was down a little from last week's highs against both the US dollar and the euro, but still traded close to the best levels in 4 1/2 years against the former and a more than 1 year high versus the latter.

Despite some flooding issues, FranceAgrMer said that winter wheat crops there were rated 76% good/excellent, compared with 66% a year ago. Winter barley is 74% good/excellent versus 67% this time in 2013.

A report on Reuters said that Germany shipped around 250 TMT of wheat to Iran last month, and a further 195 TMT is lined up to go there this month.

SovEcon said that Russia's corn exports have hit a new record high following bumper production in 2013. Shipments this month are expected to be around 350 TMT.

India's MMTC picked up a best bid of only $263.36/tonne in its wheat tender, that's now barely more than the government's minimum guideline of $260/tonne.

Bangladesh bought 50 TMT of wheat from Glencore, believed to be of Indian origin, in a tender said to be priced at $303 CIFFO.

India will begin harvesting what is expected to be a record 95-100 MMT 2014/15 wheat crop within weeks.

Both Cargill and Bunge are said to be refusing to accept corn of a new Syngenta variety, currently unauthorised for entry into the EU/China, into their 2014/15 US export program.