Export demand for European Union wheat surged this week and is expected to continue as fighting disrupts shipments from Ukraine and Russia, traders said today.
"This week saw very large EU export sales from Romania, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Poland and other EU countries," one trader said.
"A quick end to the fighting in Ukraine would be needed to enable Ukrainian and Russian shipments to get back to normal. As this did not happen, replacement supplies were bought on a large scale," the trader added.
Paris Euronext wheat futures yesterday hit new record highs, as the war in Ukraine continued to choke Black Sea supplies.
An additional complication is market talk that new sales of Russian wheat have dropped sharply on a combination of port closures, lack of ships willing to call in Russian ports and the impact of sanctions, traders said.
This is despite Russia's large Black Sea port of Novorossiysk remaining open.
"The EU wheat market is on fire with big demand for shipment especially to importers in the Middle East/Mediterranean region and North Africa," another trader said.
"It is hard to put a figure on the total but I think we are talking about hundreds of thousands of tonnes sold this week," the trader said.
"With demand in German ports so strong, wheat is to be transported in from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia," he added.
Demand was continuing today and is expected to continue next week, traders said.
"The phone is ringing all the time with purchase inquiries for export," another trader said. "I think the EU is fast selling out which is why EU futures and premiums are so high."
In Bulgaria, the wheat export surge is said to be causing concern that local supplies may be depleted too much.
