French wheat exports drive UK futures lower

By FWi staff

WHEAT futures in London dropped today as the market decided that French wheat sales to Egypt were bad news after all.

The announcement that France was to export 250,000 tonnes of wheat to Egypt failed to affect prices yesterday afternoon.

By this morning, however, the sentiment had changed – despite a weakening of Sterling to DM3.061 against the Deutschmark.

Old-crop contracts were down 60p at £73.00/ tonne (March). New-crop futures dropped by similar amounts to £74.85 (July), £76.75 (November), £78.50 (January 1999), and £80.75 (March 1999).

Traders fear that French wheat is now so cheap that buyers could cancel orders from UK merchants.