Bloomberg
By Tony C. Dreibus
Paris wheat rose to a six-month high on speculation the European crop will decline and Morocco will need to import more of the grain.
The European Union’s 2012-13 wheat harvest will fall to 131.1 million metric tons, down 1.6 million tons from a prior estimate, as freezing weather in February hurt plants, research firm Strategie Grains said yesterday, according to Dow Jones. Morocco’s cereal crop may fall 52 percent to 4 million tons, Gainsborough, England-based Gleadell Agriculture Ltd. said on its website.
“The Strategie Grains report confirmed the damage this past winter, confirmed exportable supplies are tight and helps confirm global wheat supplies aren’t going to hurt corn demand,” Lafayette, Indiana-based Mike Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics & Consulting, said by phone today.
Milling wheat for November delivery on NYSE Liffe in Paris rose 0.7 percent today to 204.25 euros ($269.14), the sixth- straight increase. The price earlier touched 205 euros, the highest since Sept. 13.
Grain exports from France’s Rouen port,Europe’s biggest cereal-shipping hub, rose 4.4 percent this week to the highest level in 11 months. Shipments totaled 231,849 tons from March 8 to March 14, the port said. Exports included 192,699 tons of soft wheat.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tony C. Dreibus in London attdreibus
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter atccarpenter2.
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