Euronext wheat near 9-month low with Black Sea supply in focus

Euronext wheat fell on Friday to approach a nine-month low as cheaper Black Sea supplies continued to curb prices.

Widely followed world crop forecasts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released near the end of the session underscored Black Sea competition, with increased projections of Russian and Ukrainian exports. (WASDE13)

Benchmark March milling wheat (BL2H3) on the Paris-based Euronext settled down 1.5% at 302.75 euros ($318.95) a tonne.

It earlier fell to 301.25 euros, close to Tuesday's low of 299.75 euros that was a weakest second-month price (BL2c2) since Feb. 25, although dealers said 300 euros remained a strong support floor.

Friday's lightly traded session was also marked by adjustments before Monday's expiry of December futures (BL2Z2). The front-month contract settled 1.7% lower at 302.75 euros.

Chicago wheat ZW1! also fell.

News that Egypt had bought 260,000 tonnes of Russian wheat via private talks on Thursday kept attention on Black Sea supplies.

"The price weakness seen since October has been driven by a better-than-expected production outcome from the Northern Hemisphere harvest, especially from Russia," Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said in a note.

However, Euronext remained underpinned by previous export sales for European Union wheat, including large French sales to China that are expected to drive a busy year-end port loading programme. (GRAIN/SHP/FR)

Cold weather in Europe was being monitored, although snow cover in northern regions and the absence of deep frosts were seen limiting risks of crop damage.

In France, 97% of soft wheat was in good or excellent condition in the week to Dec. 5, farm office FranceAgriMer said in its last weekly update before the winter dormancy period.

($1 = 0.9492 euros)