In Europe, better weather across France is helping to alleviate some drought stress, but the forecast is for dry weather to persist into May, which could give a rise to new crop prices and better selling opportunities.

That said, wheat futures fell this week, by almost €5/t for December 2017 and €2/t for next year, as Canadian planting intentions have come back higher than expected and better weather across parts of the USA ease quality concerns regarding wheat.

While Canada’s projected wheat area of 9.4 million hectares is actually unchanged on 2016, wet weather late last summer damaged significant proportions of the crop and it was forecasted that many would turn away from wheat. This, it appears, will not materialise. Canadian farmers are predicted to plant 27% more soya bean, 21% more oats, 13% more maize and 8% less barley in area terms. The declining barley area has been a trend for two decades.

Looking beyond Europe, the strength in the euro after the French primary election will begin to affect prices, as the EU will struggle to compete against other origin into destination markets.

Closer to home, there appears to be very little native stock of wheat left at this stage of the year, but with field activity taking priority, any selling is a second thought at the moment. Native wheat is moving at €180/t, with barley at €164. Maize is unchanged on last week at €185/t, with soya bean retracing slightly (from €355) to €350/t.