EU Wheat Rises, London Market At 1-Year Highs
02/08/16 -- EU grains closed mixed, wheat was mostly firmer as more crop downgrades continue to come in for France.
At the close Nov 16 London wheat was up GBP0.55/tonne at GBP127.25/tonne, Sep 16 Paris wheat was up EUR1.50/tonne to EUR168.50/tonne, Aug Paris corn was up EUR1.00tonne at EUR169.75/tonne and Nov 16 Paris rapeseed was EUR1.75/tonne lower at EUR356.50/tonne.
For Nov 16 London wheat this was the highest close for a front month in more than a year.
ODA dropped their estimate for this year's French wheat crop to 28.2 MMT, saying that yields in the key Centre/North regions are in some cases less than half of what they were a year ago.
The market remains anxious/curious as to what the UK wheat harvest will bring when that commences shortly.
French offers were once again missing from today's Egyptian wheat tender. They finished up buying just the one cargo of Russian wheat, after shippers revised their prices higher.
At the moment is seems that France is alone suffering wheat losses of the kind of magnitude that are being seen. One or two other European countries are expecting production to be lower, but nothing like the kind of percentages being talked about in France.
Elsewhere, harvest estimates are creeping higher. In Russia, Rusagrotrans now say that this year's grain harvest will amount to 115.8 MMT as opposed to the 113 MMT previously forecast.
Wheat production will account for a record 70-71 MMT versus the previous estimate of 68.4 MMT, they say. Barley production will come in at 18.3 MMT and the corn crop will amount to 13.8 MMT, they add.
The Russian Ag Ministry said that this year's wheat harvest is 38.2% complete at 37.9 MMT, so the bare maths do stack up, even if it is mainly lower yielding spring wheat areas left to be harvested.
