EU wheat ends higher on Chicago bounce as Russian exports assessed
Updates with close
PARIS, Oct 17 (Reuters) -European wheat ended higher on Thursday with support from a weaker euro and a rebound in Chicago futures, while traders assessed Russian government intervention in export prices.
December wheat BL2Z4 on Paris-based Euronext settled 1.1% up at 230.25 euros ($249.22) a metric ton, moving away from a one-week low of 225.00 euros struck on Tuesday.
Euronext wheat had traded little changed earlier, curbed by a three-week low for Chicago wheat Wv1, which was pressured by the firmer dollar and expected rain in dry U.S. wheat zones.
But Chicago prices later turned higher. GRA/
The euro EUR= eased to a new 2-1/2 month low against the dollar, making euro-priced commodities cheaper for international buyers. FRX/
European traders continued to analyse the possible impact of Russian government steps to regulate exports.
At a meeting with grain exporters last Friday, the Russian agriculture ministry proposed a price floor of $250 per metric ton on a free-on-board basis for wheat exported in international tenders, according to sources.
"Russia may now be working with an ‘export floor price’, but that remains hypothetical," British merchant ADM Agriculture said in a note.
Traders had previously reported the use of a price floor by the Russian authorities last year, though its application and level appeared to vary.
“In the past Russia’s price floor had its strongest impact in international purchase tenders, but private sales were often made well under the floor price,” a German trader said.
Following Friday's meeting, Russia’s Grain Exporters Union began publishing indicative export prices on Tuesday, estimating the free on board (FOB) export price for wheat with 12.5% protein content from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk at $240 per ton for October, $245 for November and $250 for December.
Traders said 12.5% protein Russian wheat for November Black Sea shipment was on Thursday mostly quoted around at $245 a ton FOB, but with $234-$235 seen as a more realistic market level.
More favourable planting weather in the Black Sea region, with rain now reaching parched parts of southern Russia, has also helped to restrain prices.
That was offsetting concern about heavy rain in France, where downpours on Thursday that triggered flood warnings in the south are set to exacerbate soggy field conditions.
($1 = 0.9239 euros)
Reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Michael Hogan in Hamburg. Editing by Jane Merriman, Elaine Hardcastle
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