Wheat prices in Chicago rise, Paris stable

The wheat export from the United States is performing better than expected. This led to slightly rising prices in Chicago on Thursday. In Paris, price formation is stabilizing. On Thursday, the wheat market in Chicago closed 7.5 cents higher at $5.27 per bushel. This price is well above the closing note of $5.10¾ on Monday and also above the price level of the end of last week. The futures market benefited from export sales that exceeded analysts' predictions. The main buyers of wheat from the US are the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Japan, but Italy is also mentioned in this list. The Italians have mainly purchased hard red wheat, as well as durum wheat. The futures market in Paris stabilizes on Friday morning, September 26, at a level just above €190 per ton. The volumes are somewhat smaller than at the beginning of this week. On Thursday, the volume in December contracts remained at just under 36,000, compared to over 57,000 on Monday. Higher yield forecast in EU The European Commission has announced that the yield forecast for soft wheat in the EU member states is being further increased to 133.6 million tons. This forecast is 4.5 million tons (3.5%) higher than the previous estimate published at the end of August. The yield per hectare for soft wheat is expected to rise according to the new forecast to 6.24 tons. The 5-year average for soft wheat in the EU stands at 5.77 tons per hectare. Thus, this year's yields are 8% above that level. Last year, yields were limited to 5.57 tons per hectare. Also, the barley harvest in the 27 member states is expected to be higher than previously estimated. According to the new estimate, barley production this year is projected to be 56.3 million tons. This amount is 2 million tons (3.8%) larger than the estimate from the end of August. Barley this year yields 5.51 tons per hectare, which is 12% more than the 5-year average. The forecast for grain corn production in the EU, on the other hand, is lowered compared to last month by 733,000 tons (1.3%) to 57 million tons. The estimate for hectare yields is reduced to 6.86 tons per hectare. Thus, the yields are barely higher than last year. The new estimate is 4.4% lower than the average yields over the past five years.