Paris wheat ends the week higher on poor EU crops, short covering

PARIS/HAMBURG, Aug 30 (Reuters) - European wheat prices extended their rise on Friday and were on track for their first weekly gain in three weeks, supported by short covering and reports of poor European crops.

Most traded December milling wheat BL2Z4 on Paris-based Euronext, closed 0.5% higher at 216.50 euros a metric ton. The contract gained 3.7% this week.

Front-month September BL2c1, which expires on Sept. 10, was up 1.2% at 204.75 euros.

Several forecasters have revised their estimates for 2024/25 this week with the European Commission lowering its projection of the EU's soft wheat crop to a four-year low of 116.1 million metric tons, down from 120.8 million expected a month ago, and slashing its export forecast by 6 million tons to 26 million.

"There was a feeling that EU price had fallen too low in light of the small local crops but it doesn't look like there will be a lack of wheat this year," a French trader said.

Australia, one of the world's largest wheat exporters, is set to produce over 31 million tons of wheat in the upcoming harvest, around 2 million tons more than forecast earlier and significantly more than in 2023/24, after rain in major crop regions boosted yields, analysts said.

European wheat had fallen to a six-month low on Monday amid strong competition from Black Sea origins, mainly Russia.

"Black Sea prices have been pretty stable this week, rising with Euronext, which could add downward pressure in coming days if buyers keep their focus on cheap Black Sea wheat," a German trader said.

SovEcon lowered its 2024 Russian wheat crop forecast down to 82.5 million tons from the previous estimate of 83.3 million, largely due to lower-than-expected yields in some Central and Volga Valley regions, it said.

Reduced selling by farmers was also supportive.

"In Poland, many farmers are retaining their wheat and rejecting all bids from the buyers at the current price level,” one Polish trader said.

Polish 12.5% protein wheat for August/September delivery touched its lowest in about six months at around 860 zloty (201 euros) on Monday but was pushed up by the rising Euronext to around 895 zloty on Friday.

Heavy Black Sea competition was keeping Poland’s export shipments thin. In Gdynia, one ship is loading 30,000 tons of wheat for North Africa and another has sailed with 30,000 tonnes for Nigeria.

Prices at 1635 GMT
	Last	Change	Pct Move
Paris wheat BL2Z4	216.75	1.00	0.46
Paris maize EMAc1	198.50	0.25	0.13
Paris rapeseed COMc1	471.00	1.25	0.27
CBOT wheat Wv1	550.50	1.75	0.32
CBOT corn Cv1	399.25	3.25	0.82
CBOT soy Sv1	996.25	3.75	0.38
WTI crude oil CLc1	73.93	-1.98	-2.61
Euro/dlr EUR=	1.10	0.00	-0.29
Most active contracts - Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel, Paris futures in euros per tonne

(Reporting by Sybille de la Hamaide in Paris and Michael Hogan in Hamburg; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

((Sybille.deLaHamaide@thomsonreuters.com; +336 8774 4148;))