EU Wheat Close

November London wheat ended GBP1.00 easier at GBP162.00/tonne, with November Paris wheat up EUR0.75 at EUR224.00/tonne.

It's been another difficult and volatile week.

A strong euro and weak dollar have set the tone for the second half of the week, with EU prices closing well below earlier highs.

November London wheat closed GBP9.50/tonne below the contract highs set on Monday. November Paris wheat ended EUR14.00/tonne below it's early week highs.

EU exports are well ahead of last season, but may now start to tail off as a falling dollar makes US grain more competitive. Unlike this side of the pond, there is plenty of spare tonnage available in the US.

Russia and Ukraine are starting to get some rain, although "planting wheat this late is a risky venture, not affording the crop enough time to become properly established before it goes dormant," say Martell Crop Projections.

Attention is also turning to EU and US wheat plantings. UK and French wheat sowings are expected to be modestly higher for 2011, whilst German sowing could be up more significantly as rains may have prevented some OSR getting into the ground. In the US wheat plantings are expected to rebound to 57 million acres, compared to 54.3 million for the 2010/11 crop.