EU Wheat Close

02/11/10 -- Nov10 London wheat closed GBP0.60 lower at GBP169.90/tonne and Nov10 Paris wheat was down EUR3.75 to EUR219.00/tonne.

French wheat won a share of, but by no means all of Egypt's wheat tender, reiterating that European wheat - particularly French wheat - doesn't have the market all to itself. The US also got a poke in the eye as they didn't feature at all in today's tender.

Indeed, France only got a look in due to it's much closer proximity to Egypt than the other two winning origins - Argentina and Australia.

French wheat was priced at USD317.00/tonne, whilst Argentine wheat was USD295.50/tonne and Australian wheat at USD302.30/tonne. Both southern hemisphere countries will be harvesting in full swing in the next few weeks.

The continued weakness of the US dollar was also a factor in EU wheat slipping lower on the day. The US may launch the good ship QE2 this week and the market is also nervous over the US mid-term elections.