EU Wheat Closes Modestly Higher
EU wheat futures closed modestly higher Friday with November Paris milling wheat +EUR3.00 at EUR141.00/tonne and London November feed wheat +GBP1.40 at GBP90.40/tonne.
"A strong downwards trend still remains firmly in place against a backdrop of bearish fundamentals and world recession," said one trader.
In the UK, Frontier estimate that over 60% of the UK wheat crop is already back in the ground for next year, and that we will only see an overall drop in wheat plantings of about 5% compared to last season.
This seems a surprisingly low drop to me, as I would have guessed a reduction of more like 10-15%, given that the cost of production is reportedly around £90/tonne.
A contact at a leading UK seed house tells me that wheat seed sales with his company are well down on a year ago. Ditto sales of ammonium nitrate. At more than double the price of twelve months ago it's not hard to see why.
"Farmers are eternal optimists and will plant anyway," said one trader. We shall see.
"A strong downwards trend still remains firmly in place against a backdrop of bearish fundamentals and world recession," said one trader.
In the UK, Frontier estimate that over 60% of the UK wheat crop is already back in the ground for next year, and that we will only see an overall drop in wheat plantings of about 5% compared to last season.
This seems a surprisingly low drop to me, as I would have guessed a reduction of more like 10-15%, given that the cost of production is reportedly around £90/tonne.
A contact at a leading UK seed house tells me that wheat seed sales with his company are well down on a year ago. Ditto sales of ammonium nitrate. At more than double the price of twelve months ago it's not hard to see why.
"Farmers are eternal optimists and will plant anyway," said one trader. We shall see.