Prospects of precipitation in some regions in the drought-plagued US plains, technical sales and disappointing US exports yesterday caused heavy losses in wheat futures in Chicago. With only 219,500 tonnes of US wheat, weekly export sales were well below market expectations. Institutional investors yesterday sold 7,000 lots of CBoT SRW wheat. The eCBoT is moderately firmer at the moment. At Euronext in Paris, wheat futures were able to escape the negative overseas guidance and closed unchanged to moderately firmer. The decline in the exchange rate between the euro and the US dollar provided support. Egypt's state grain buyer GASC yesterday purchased 120,000 tonnes of Russian and Romanian wheat for the period 15-25 April at an average price of $ 217.89 / tonne FOB as part of an international tender process. The EU's soft wheat exports in the 2017/18 marketing year, at 13.9 million tonnes, are currently 22% lower than their exports in the last marketing year at the same time (17.7 million tonnes). Optimal weather conditions in the Black Sea region suggest another large wheat crop.
