EU Wheat Hits Three Month Highs

EU wheat futures extended their gains Friday, with November Paris milling wheat up EUR0.50 at EUR132.00/tonne, and London November feed wheat ending GBP2.00 higher at GBP105.50/tonne.

Late profit-taking ahead of the weekend trimmed a little off earlier gains, which saw London November wheat hit GBP106.50/tonne, it's highest since July 24. Paris November milling wheat hit EUR135.00/tonne at one point, it's best since early August.

Chicago wheat rallied to four month highs Friday afternoon, after gaining 10% this week alone as the US corn and soybean harvest is the slowest in at least thirty years. This will have a knock-on effect to wheat, as many farmers need to get their con and beans in to enable them to plant wheat.

US October rainfall already ranks among the 5 wettest on record, not including the past 2 days. Two more storms in the next week should secure a record for October, 2009, says Gail Martell of Martell Crop Projections.

London wheat also gained after the pound sank following the news from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) surprising the market by saying Q3 GDP actually fell 0.4%, contrary to an anticipated gain of 0.2%. That saw sterling nose-dive from around 1.6650 against the dollar in early trade to finish around 1.6300, a fall of 1.5% on the day.