EU wheat drops to one-month low

Euronext wheat slid to a one-month low on Friday as signs that Russian wheat remained competitive overseas, despite government steps to regulate prices, dented export hopes in western Europe.

December wheat on Paris-based Euronext, settled down 2.1% at 216.75 euros ($234.16) a metric ton. It earlier dropped to 216.00 euros, its lowest since Sept. 20. Wheat traders have been grappling with Russian initiatives to regulate exports, including reported minimum export prices and restrictions on which exporters can sell Russian grain. Russian wheat with 12.5% protein for November shipment was quoted on Friday at around $235 to $237 a ton free on board after this week generally holding the unofficial $245 floor for November. “Russian wheat prices are showing a softer tone today with more quotes visible below the unofficial minimum export price and cheaper than the EU,” one German trader said.

“Buyers have been resisting the Russian minimum price and have been seeking about the $230 level for October/November shipments this week,” the trader said. News that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had discussed Black Sea shipping with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin also tempered security concerns over Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, traders said.

Ukrainian exports remained active and competitive prices were thought to have generated about 285,000 tons of wheat shipments from Ukraine to Spain over Oct. 1-23. Argentina’s wheat exports, meanwhile, could hit 13.3 million tons for the 2024/25 season, which would mark the second-highest year on record, the Rosario grains exchange said. Strong international competition was heightening concern about a slow start to the export season in the European Union, whose wheat shipments are nearly a third below their level a year ago.

“I think that French and European wheat prices are trying to generate exports,” Argus analyst Maxence Devillers said. “We’ve fallen so far behind that we need to export more soon.”

Traders said a second vessel this month was due to call at Rouen port to load feed wheat for Thailand, traders said, adding that wheat-export activity was otherwise thin.

A drier expected end to the month in France was easing worries about rain delays to planting. Farmers had sown 21% of the expected soft wheat area by Monday, against a five-year average of 47%, farm office FranceAgriMer said.