European wheat market: French wheat prices followed the international wheat prices lower. For more information on export to China, please call SINOLOBEN, service Email: sinoloben@sloben.com.
French wheat spot prices fell in the 13th week of 2022, mainly because of signs of progress in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine early in the week. However, the U.S. questioned the outcome of the negotiations, diminishing hopes for a ceasefire. Geopolitical uncertainty will continue to lead to increased volatility in the wheat market.
On Thursday (March 31), the delivered price of first-class French wheat at the port of Rouen, France, was $427 per ton, down $14 from a week earlier. The price range for the past 52 weeks has been $240 to $460 per ton.
Thursday's price of second-class wheat in Argentina's Upper River was $396 per ton, down $5 from a week ago; U.S. No. 2 hard red winter wheat was $459 per ton, down $26 from a week ago; and U.S. No. 2 soft red winter wheat was $421 per ton, down $31 from a week ago.
At Euronext Paris, the most actively traded May 2022 wheat futures closed at 365.25 euros per ton on Friday, down 16 euros or 4.20 percent from a week ago, while Chicago wheat futures fell 10.68 percent over the same period.
In addition to focusing on the situation in Russia and Ukraine, European traders are also evaluating the latest import tenders. In the tender held on Wednesday, Tunisia bought 125,000 tons of wheat and Algeria bought 600,000 tons of wheat, which could bring more sales of EU wheat, including wheat from Romania and France. But relatively low transaction prices curbed market sentiment.
France's Strategic Grains said on March 17 that the global market will lose about 11 million tons of wheat in 2021/22 due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Strategic Grains lowered its forecast for Ukrainian wheat exports by 6 million tons and its forecast for Russian wheat exports by 5 million tons. On March 18, FranceAgriMer, a crop office under the French Ministry of Agriculture, said the EU is in a "prime time" position to fill the Black Sea grain export gap.
On March 9, FranceAgriMEr raised its forecast for French soft wheat exports outside the EU in 2021/22 (July-June) to 9.7 million tons, up from 8.9 million tons in February; soft wheat ending stocks were lowered to 2.96 million tons, down from 3.58 million tons in February. 17.6 million tons, up from February's forecast of 16.8 million tons. On the same day the USDA maintained its forecast for EU wheat exports at 37.5 million tons in its supply and demand report, up from 29.74 million tons in the previous year. The USDA sees Australia and India benefiting mainly from the reduction in Russian-Ukrainian wheat exports.
The European Commission on Feb. 24 lowered its forecast for 2021/22 EU soft wheat production to 129.8 million tons, down from 130.5 million tons forecast a month earlier. Wheat ending stocks were also lowered by 700,000 tons, from 13.3 million tons to 12.6 million tons; however, the export forecast remained unchanged at 32 million tons.
Data from the European Commission showed that EU-27 wheat exports for 2021/22 (July-June) reached 19.87 million tons (19.62 million tons last week, 20.48 million tons a year ago) and imports were 1.90 million tons (1.88 million tons last week, 1.66 million tons a year ago) as of March 27. The top buyer is Algeria, but imports are still lower than a year ago, with 2.95 million tons of wheat imported so far (2.95 million tons last week, 4.57 million tons a year ago); the share is 14.9% (15.0% last week, 22.3% a year ago). The second largest buyer is Egypt, with imports of 2.04 million tons (1.95 million tons last week, 445,000 tons a year ago); the share is 10.3% (9.9% last week, 2.2% a year ago). The third largest buyer was China with imports of 2.04 million tons (2.04 million tons last week, 1.77 million tons a year ago); the share was 10.3% (10.4% last week, 8.6% a year ago).
Euronext position data show that as of March 25, investment funds as well as financial institutions in the Euronext milling wheat futures and options market hold net long orders of 175,478 lots, up from 172,463 lots a week ago.
On Friday, the euro exchange rate was 1 euro to $1.11, compared with 1.10 a week earlier.
Consulting service for China's imports & exports, please contact us.
Ms. Linda Li
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sinoloben@thecustoms.com.cn
As food importer & food distributor based in Frankfurt and Shanghai, Sinoloben Europa Trading GmbH helps client export to China and bring your food products to International Expo, e.g. China International Import Ex
