A slight rise for Chicago wheat futures, which held close to a one-month high touched on Friday, helped to keep Paris prices steady. Wheat markets gained ground last week as investment funds covered short positions and risks from dry weather shifted attention away from large global stocks. A slide in the euro, which gave up gains against the dollar from last week to trade around the $1.10 floor, lent some fresh support to Euronext by making it cheaper overseas.
The euro's weakness was seen as reinforcing French wheat's position as the most competitive origin for a new tender called by Algeria with a bidding deadline on Tuesday. But traders said a November shipment period sought by Algeria dampened sentiment on the French market because it suggested the North African country plans to forgo October imports.
"People in the market were thinking they might go for the second half of October but they've gone right on to November," a French broker said. "If they just buy a standard 400,000 tonnes it will be bad news, but if they take 800,000 tonnes it's a different story." There has been uncertainty over Algeria's import purchases since OAIC's head Mohamed Belabdi was suspended in July as part of a corruption investigation that also resulted in the closure of 45 grain mills.
The Algerian presidency announced on Monday that Abderrahmane Bouchahda, already a senior official at OAIC, would become the agency's new head with immediate effect. Weekly European Union data showed the bloc's soft wheat exports had reached 5.1 million tonnes by Sept. 15, up 34% from the volume cleared by Sept. 9 last year. In Germany, premiums in Hamburg eased. "Flour mills seem to have good supply cover for the rest of this year and loadings of wheat in German ports remains at low levels compared with past years," one German trader said.
One ship sailed for South Africa last week with about 47,000 tonnes, he said. Standard bread wheat with 12% protein for delivery in Hamburg from September onwards was offered for sale at 2.50 euros below Paris December, compared with 2 euros below on Friday. Buyers were seeking at least 3 euros below Paris.