Weekend technology sales and the prospect of much-needed rainfall in the southern US plains awaiting weather services this week caused losses for the third consecutive week in Chicago last Friday. However, the front month of May ended the week almost unchanged with a rise of 25 US cents. Institutional investors sold 5,500 lots of CBoT SRW wheat on Friday. The eCBoT trades again this morning with losses. At Euronext in Paris, the wheat futures followed the negative overseas guidance and ended the trading day with losses. In the weekly comparison, the front month of May lost 2.25 euros. FranceAgriMer left the ratings of French winter wheat stocks unchanged. 78% of the stocks received the top rating "good to excellent", compared with 89% a year ago. The Russian agricultural consultancy IKAR increased the forecast of Russian wheat exports in the current marketing year 2017/18 by one million tonnes to 39.5 million tonnes. At the cash market in Hamburg, the quotes for standard wheat with 12% protein rose by 0.50 cents to 3 euros over Paris May 18. The quotes for feed wheat in Südoldenburg remained unchanged at 178 euros.
