US wheat futures were flat to lower in overnight trade. The stronger Aussie dollar will exacerbate the move in local values and may see export parity offers from the west coast slip a little today.
Physical offers for wheat around the world were generally flat to firmer yesterday with APW off the west coast of Australia offered around the US$250 mark. The offer values off the west coast do seem to be reflecting the CME Platts wheat contract at Chicago which closed at US$249 for the January slot. Looking at cash bids from buyers on the west coast would indicate that these values are pretty much bang on where they should be with most bids working out at roughly US$250ish FOB equivalent.

Paris wheat futures took a breather last night and pulled back E1.00 on the nearby to close at E182 / tonne. The punters are happy to maintain a significant long at the Paris exchange and are assuming that the wet autumn will play its role in the spring when winter wheat acres are tallied. At present the projection, for France at least, is at the lowest level since 2003 at 4.7mha.
Durum area is also expected to be much smaller year on year with the French ministry tipping an area of just 225kha, their lowest estimate since 1995.
Looking at the 1-7day forecast for France it doesn’t look like the south is about to get any drier either. Much of the SE is expected to see between 50mm – 100mm during the week ahead.