EU wheat bounces off 5-month lows led by front-month flurry
PARIS, Aug 16 (Reuters) -Euronext wheat recovered on Friday from near five-month lows, led by a technical bounce in front-month futures, though cheaper Black Sea supplies limited gains and diverted attention from poor harvests in western Europe.
December wheat BL2Z4 on Euronext was 1.6% up at 219.50 euros ($241.34) a metric ton by 1541 GMT. It earlier equaled Thursday's low of 215.75 euros, a level not previously reached since March 20.
September futures BL2U4 were 3.1% higher at 207.75 euros. The front-month contract also hit its lowest since March on Thursday at 201.00 euros but held the 200 euro chart floor.
The gains were fuelled by technical adjustments after Thursday's expiry of options against the position, according to dealers.
After drawing support late last week from international demand, with Algeria booking around 600,000 tons and Egypt announcing a tender for up to 3.8 million tons, wheat prices have been dampened by Egypt's failure to secure large volumes and continued availability of competitive Black Sea supplies.
"For wheat, the market is mulling factors including continued downgrades to EU harvest expectations, and the implications of an Egyptian tender which, while large in ambition ... has been limited in action," consultancy CRM Agri said in a note.
After buying just 280,000 tons in its tender on Monday, Egyptian state agency GASC has, according to traders, held informal talks with suppliers to secure up to 1.8 million tons but without signing any deals so far.
In France, farmers have almost finished harvesting the rain-hit wheat crop, expected to be the smallest since the 1980s, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on Friday.
In Germany, the wheat harvest will fall 12.8% on the year to 18.76 million tons, the association of farm cooperatives said on Friday, reducing its outlook after repeated summer rain.
Some import requirements cannot be ruled out, it said.
As in France, wheat quality was a concern.
The recent rain may have caused a 0.5-percentage-point fall in protein content nationally in Germany compared to last year, traders said.
“This could mean a small German import requirement for high-protein wheat and a smaller export surplus of German wheat,” a German trader said.
“The trouble is that with such large and cheap Black Sea supplies being offered by Russia and Ukraine, the world market does not need much French and German wheat.”
Russian 12.5% protein for September Black Sea shipment was on Friday again quoted well under $200 a ton FOB at around $217-$218 a ton FOB, traders said.
($1 = 0.9095 euros)
Reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Michael Hogan in Hamburg; Editing by Rod Nickel
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