The US wheat markets continued their downward trend on Thursday. In Chicago, December SWR wheat lost 4.00 US cents to close at 524.25 US cents/bushel. March lost 3.75 US cents to close at 542.50 US cents/bushel. HRW wheat in Kansas City was also under pressure: December fell by 6.25 US cents to 510.00 US cents/bushel, March by 5.50 US cents. Spring Wheat in Minneapolis recorded further losses of 2 to 3 US cents.
The USDA reported the highest export sales in three weeks at 377,459 tons for the week ending September 11. This was 53 percent above the previous year's level. The largest buyer was the Philippines with 186,000 tons, followed by Nigeria with 104,300 tons and Mexico with 96,000 tons. In addition, a South Korean mill importer secured a further 30,000 tons of US wheat.
Internationally, however, greater harvest prospects had a negative impact. The industry association Coceral raised its estimate for the combined wheat harvest in the EU and the United Kingdom to 147.4 million tons, an increase of 4.3 million tons compared to June. This bearish signal outweighed the strong US demand and pushed prices down further.
On Euronext, the front dates closed unchanged. December was still at 192.25 €/t.
