Profit-taking and year-end positioning weighed on wheat futures in Chicago yesterday. Weekly US export sales of 868,600 tons of US wheat were above market expectations of 200,000 - 600,000 tons. The Taiwan Flour Millers Association yesterday bought 104,600 tons of wheat from the United States for delivery in February and March 2020. Institutional investors sold 3,000 contracts of CBoT SRW wheat yesterday. This morning eCBoT is trading almost unchanged. On Euronext in Paris, wheat futures bucked the negative cues from overseas and posted gains on all futures. Yesterday, the EU Commission raised its estimate of 2019/20 wheat production in the EU from 146.8 million tons to 147.2 million tons. Compared to the previous year (128.5 million tons), this would be an increase of 14.5%. The Commission increased its estimate of EU wheat exports in 2019/20 from 26 million tons to 28 million tons. According to the statistics office, Germany's 2020 acreage for winter wheat will be reduced by 7.1% compared to the previous year. The area under rapeseed will increase by 11.8%. According to traders, Iran has purchased a total of up to 1 million tons of wheat from Russia and the EU, including Germany, in recent weeks.
Source
HANSA Terminhandel
