EU Wheat Ends Modestly Lower

EU wheat futures closed modestly lower Friday with January Paris milling wheat closing down EUR0.25 at EUR131.50/tonne, and London May feed wheat trading down GBP0.60 at GBP111.90/tonne.

It was a subdued end to a subdued week, with no November London futures trading hands once again all day long, and only 225 lots traded in all positions all week.

It's ultimately the same old story, sellers generally don't want or need to sell, and buyers generally don't want or need to buy. If one or the other breaks ranks then they get squeezed.

Next week we have the USDA reporting Monday on harvest progress for US corn and soybeans plus planting progress for US wheat. On Tuesday they release their latest US crop production numbers plus estimates for global output too.

That may provide some much-needed direction. Apart from that currency fluctuations will rule the roost.

This week we saw the BoE throw another GBP25 billion into the QE hat, and we saw US unemployment tick up above 10%. Amazingly neither piece of news seemed to make very much difference to exchange rates at all.

The outside influences of crude oil and the vagaries of the stock market will also continue to exert some influence, as too may any fund/investment monetary inflows into agri-commodities.

Gold reached another all-time record high this week as money continues to look for a safe option, particularly with global interest rates so low.

So there you have it. All you have to do is figure out what is going to happen next week with the USDA, gold, crude oil, the stock market, the pound and what the funds might do, and you might have a clue as to where the price of wheat is headed. Easy eh?