London Wheat Sets Third 15 1/2 Month Low Of The Week

18/11/11 -- EU grains ended lower with Nov 11 London wheat down GBP2.45/tonne to GBP142.60/tonne and Jan 12 Paris wheat EUR1.00/tonne easier at EUR182.00/tonne.

It's been a resolve testing week for the bulls with London wheat losing GBP6.15/tonne and Paris wheat a more modest EUR2.50/tonne since last Friday.

London wheat has closed at it's lowest since late July 2010 today, the third time it has reset that record this week.

The European debt crisis is going from bad to worse, and news that today's meeting in Berlin between David Cameron and Angela Merkel achieved little in the way of progress whilst not surprising is disappointing.

Brussels only issued export licences for 241,000 MT of soft wheat this week bringing the year to date total to 5.8 MMT, 37% down on this point last season. US wheat exports are also falling well behind schedule.

Export competition is fierce on a global basis with Australia reporting a much larger crop than realised last season and another potentially bumper crop on the way in 2011/12.

The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange increased their estimate for wheat production in Argentina this season to 13.0 MMT from 12.6 MMT.

Meanwhile Ukraine is stepping up it's grain exports, shipping as much corn abroad in the first half of November as it did in the whole of October. The Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation are forecasting a final record corn crop of 21-22 MMT there this season.