It earlier fell to its lowest since July 19 at 190.50 euros, extending losses from the past week. Front-month March also struck a seven-month low at 190.00 euros before closing down 1.50 euros at 192.75 euros. In a volatile session, Euronext slipped as offers in a tender by top wheat importer Egypt showed aggressive bids for Russian, Ukrainian and Romanian wheat, deepening concern that west European wheat may fail to enjoy the hoped for late season run of exports.
An absence of US wheat offers also encouraged selling in Chicago, adding to pressure on Euronext. Sentiment was boosted later when Egyptian state buyer GASC booked 180,000 tonnes of French wheat, along with 60,000 tonnes each of Russian, Ukrainian and Romanian supplies. "The market has seen exaggerated movements and is trying to steady after the tender result," a futures dealer said. "But the session showed that there are still long positions being liquidated."
The slide in Euronext prices began late last week, fuelled by the expiry of options in Paris and investment fund selling in Chicago. Weekly Euronext data released on Wednesday showed that financial investors had reduced their net long position in the exchange's wheat futures and options in the week to February 15. In Germany, cash premiums in Hamburg were difficult to assess as Paris futures fell.
Standard bread wheat with 12 percent protein for February delivery in Hamburg was offered for sale nominally unchanged at around 7.0 euros over Paris March. "Buyers have all but withdrawn from the market today because of the free-fall in Paris prices and premiums are assessed as unchanged because of lack of purchase interest," one German trader said. "The offers in the Egyptian tender have dented hopes of an increase in export demand for EU wheat as large volumes of Russian wheat are still available in export markets at competitive prices."