EU Wheat Ends Volatile Week Slightly Lower

EU wheat futures finished a lacklustre session unchanged to slightly lower Friday, with November Paris milling wheat down EUR1.00 at EUR157.75/tonne, and London November feed wheat flat at GBP130.25/tonne.

It's been a volatile week, with some wild fluctuations in forex rates and in Chicago, but at the end of it all London November feed wheat finished just GBP0.75/tonne easier on the week, with November Paris milling wheat down EUR3.75/tonne overall.

The pound closed last week at $1.6184 against the dollar, peaked at $1.6660 on Wednesday before crashing to close at $1.5986 Friday, for a loss of around two cents on the week. The euro had a similar ride, closing last Friday at $1.4160, peaking at 41.4336 midweek before ending at $1.3965, thereby also posting a loss of around two cents overall.

US wheat futures also fluctuated quite wildly throughout the week, with Chicago July wheat up 37 1/4 cents on Monday, down 5 cents Tuesday, down 52 cents Wednesday, up 17 3/4 cents Thursday, and down 12 1/4 cents Friday!

With the markets behaving so erratically it's not hard to understand why both buyers and sellers alike seem to be preferring to stand aside until some much-needed direction emerges.

Maybe we will get it this week when the USDA release their latest S&D and stocks estimates?

At home, the HGCA this week estimated UK ending stocks for 2008/09 at a rather hefty 2.44 MMT.