EU wheat gets export relief with sales to Morocco, traders say

PARIS/HAMBURG, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Moroccan importers have booked several cargoes of European Union wheat in recent days in a boost for EU exports amid stiff Black Sea competition so far this season, traders said on Thursday.

Moroccan buyers were thought to have purchased in the past week as many as 10 cargoes, or around 300,000 metric tons, of milling wheat for delivery this month, traders said.

Most of the wheat would be sourced from northern EU countries like the Baltic States and Germany, with the rest from France, they said.

The deals would be in addition to a couple of French wheat cargoes sold around two weeks ago, one of which is about to load in Rouen, the traders added.

The demand came as EU wheat futures fell to a two-month low, while prices in main competitor Russia have trended higher amid reported moves to regulate export prices there.

However, traders cautioned that Russian wheat, which is forecast to overtake French wheat in terms of market share in Morocco this season, continued to pick up sales.

“Morocco has been buying, with eight to 10 cargoes booked mainly from the north EU,” one European trader said. “But Russian prices were lowered today to stay competitive.”

Black Sea competition and a rain-hit EU harvest, including the smallest French crop since the 1980s, have left EU wheat exports running about a third below last season’s level.

Morocco’s ongoing import requirements, after a drought-reduced harvest this year and an increase in the state’s monthly wheat import subsidy in November, had supported the latest demand, another trader said.

Morocco has become a more important export outlet for EU wheat as Russian wheat has eroded France’s leading position as a supplier to Algeria.

Diplomatic tensions have further clouded French prospects in Algeria. Traders reported that Algeria overlooked France in wheat tenders last month, though Algerian state grains agency OAIC said it treated all suppliers fairly. (Reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Michael Hogan in Hamburg; Editing by Mark Potter)

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