EU Wheat Follows Chicago Lower

EU wheat futures followed the US market lower Tuesday, with Paris November milling wheat futures ending down EUR1.25 at EUR127.75/tonne, and London November feed wheat closing down GBP1.75 at GBP101.75/tonne.

A firmer dollar tempered some of the losses, but the over-riding factor today was weakness in the Chicago wheat market which spilled over into European trade.

CBOT wheat has put in an impressive performance this month, rising by more than a dollar a bushel on planting concerns in the US. An improved weather outlook for the beginning of November however has seen it give up almost half of those gains over the last few sessions. Last night's news from the USDA that US winter wheat plantings were 76% done vs 85% normally, would appear to indicate that things aren't as bad as the market had been thinking.

Export interest for EU wheat is still hard to come by with the dollar falling to a 14-month low against the euro recently helping to improve the competitiveness of US wheat on the export arena.

Meanwhile Ukraine continues to export at a record pace, despite a grain crop almost 20% lower this season. Just sixteen weeks into the 2009/10 marketing year they have already exported almost half their entire forecast of 16.7 MMT for the year.