EU Grains Mostly A Touch Firmer

08/12/16 -- EU grains closed mostly a touch firmer, save for rapeseed which consolidated lower in line with losses in Chicago soybeans.

The day ended with Jan 17 London wheat unchanged at GBP135.80/tonne, Dec 16 Paris wheat was EUR0.25/tonne higher at EUR162.25/tonne, Jan 17 Paris corn was up EUR0.75/tonne to EUR164.25/tonne and Feb 17 Paris rapeseed fell EUR2.75/tonne to EUR409.25/tonne.

Russia said that they'd exported 4.1 MMT of grains in November - a record for the month - taking their Jul/Nov season-to-date total to 17.5 MMT. Wheat accounted for 2.9 MMT of last month's total, along with 857 TMT of corn and 764 TMT of barley.

The 2016 Russian bunker weight harvest is now said to have reached 125.3 MMT off 97% of the planned area. Wheat is 98.2% harvested at 75.9 MMT, barley 97.3% done at 19.1 MMT and corn 86.8% complete at 14.8 MMT.

Saudi Arabia are tendering for 715 TMT of hard wheat for Feb/Apr shipment, at least some of which should come from the EU. Ethiopia are in for 70 TMT of optional origin milling wheat (Black Sea origin may be the favourite for this one).

India have scrapped their 10% import duty on wheat at least through to the end of the season (March) due to the lower quality and production of this year's crop.

Indian imports might rise as high as 3 MMT in 2016/17 (Apr/Mar) on the back of the news, traders said.

Commerzbank forecast Chicago wheat prices at $4.10/bushel in Q4 of 2017, with those in Paris at EUR160/tonne, significantly lower than where both currently trade.

"The supply situation for many key agriculturals looks set to remain comfortable in 2017, meaning limited potential for prices to recover," they said, according to a report on Agrimoney.

"Conditions have been good so far, which points to another record crop next year. Overall, there are hardly any apparent risks to the global wheat supply over the next year now," they added.