EU Wheat Close

09/12/10 -- Jan London wheat closed GBP1.10 higher at GBP188.00/tonne and new crop Nov as GBP0.25 higher/tonne at GBP157.50. Jan Paris wheat closed up EUR2.00 to EUR240.25/tonne, whilst new crop Nov climbed EUR2.25 to EUR213.25/tonne.

French wheat stocks continue to tighten as importing nations scour the world for quality wheat, finding few shops left open. FranceAgriMer peg ending stocks there for the current season at 2.1MMT, down by more than a third on 2009/10, and many people think that their export estimate is understated.

Despite the perception that US wheat is the cheapest on the world export stage, Egypt today bought 180,000MT of French and 60,000MT of Argentinean wheat in it's latest tender.

The question now is how dear does French wheat need to be to cut demand? The weak euro, which fell below 1.19 against the pound, continues to give EU wheat a competitive advantage.

The USDA is out tomorrow with it's latest WASDE report. US wheat ending stocks are expected broadly unchanged from last month, with corn stocks seen declining on robust demand from the ethanol sector.