EU Wheat Close

13/10/10 -- EU wheat futures closed modestly lower with Nov London wheat ending GBP0.45 easier at GBP163.80/tonne and Nov Paris wheat falling EUR2.25 to EUR218.25/tonne.

Open interest in Nov Paris wheat continues to decline in an albeit orderly fashion. Dock worker strikes in France have so far managed to elude the major grain port of Rouen.

An under pressure pound is supportive for UK wheat, but a resurgent euro weights on Paris grains.

A lower than expected harvest and robust domestic demand means that UK exports will fall to only 1.3 MMT in 2010/11, according to the HGCA, not far short of half last season's total.

Form the feed compounder viewpoint other raw materials such as wheatfeed are starting to look much more attractive than UK wheat at the moment.

Always a fest or famine raw material, wheatfeed is very much in the feast category at the moment due to a variety of different factors. Flour production is peaking due to pre-Christmas demand just as compounders have switched out of the product due to summertime availability issues.