EU Grains Drift Mostly Lower

18/11/14 -- EU grains traded mostly lower. At the close Nov 14 London wheat was down GBP0.50/tonne to GBP123.15/tonne, Nov 14 Paris wheat was EUR0.25/tonne easier at EUR173.25/tonne, Jan 15 Paris corn was down EUR2.00/tonne to EUR150.00/tonne, whilst Feb 15 Paris rapeseed ended EUR2.50/tonne higher at EUR339.00/tonne.

Once again, fresh news was hard to come by, and prices generally drifted lower.

There are reports of a 45,000 MT French feed wheat boat loading in Rouen bound for the east coast of the US. This is said to be the first such shipment in 12 years as the French search for new homes for their large feed wheat surplus this year.

There are also reports of 25,000 MT of German rapeseed meal going to the US this month.

The French government said that as of October 1st French farmers had sold 29.5 MMT of this year's grain harvest versus 28.0 MMT a year ago.

They also said that as of the same date French grain stocks were 20.1 MMT versus 19.4 MMT a year ago.

Qatar are said to be tendering for 40,000 MT of optional origin milling wheat for Jan-March shipment, and Jordan seeks 100,000 MT of optional origin milling wheat for April/May shipment.

Tunisia are also in the market, tendering for 92,000 MT of optional origin milling wheat for Dec-Jan shipment, along with 75,000 tons of optional origin barley for the same period.

The HGCA estimated the UK cost of production of feed wheat for the 2014 harvest at around GBP151/tonne.

Ukraine said that their 2014 grain harvest was now 97% done at 61.7 MMT. The corn harvest currently stands at 25.2 MMT, they said.

The Russian harvest is also 97% complete at almost 110 MMT.