Wheat Rises, Capping Biggest Monthly Gain in at Least 7 Years
By Claudia Carpenter
Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat rose in Paris, capping the biggest monthly gain in at least seven years, amid forecasts that India, the world's second-largest consumer, will increase imports and a heat wave will curb European production.
India may import as much as 8 million metric tons of the grain this year, resuming purchases after a six-year gap, the U.S. lobbying group U.S. Wheat Associates said. The global wheat harvest will be the smallest in three years because of damage to European crops, the International Grains Council said last week.
``Eight million tons is quite a lot,'' said Sorin Vasloban, a commodities trader at brokerage Plantureux SA in Paris. ``The problem in Europe is we will have less milling wheat and more feed wheat for the animals because quality was affected by rains.''
Milling wheat futures for November delivery rose 3.50 euros, or 2.5 percent, to close at 143.50 euros ($184) a ton on Euronext.liffe in Paris. They have soared 14 percent this month, the biggest monthly gain since at least January 1999.
India's projected imports of 4.5 million tons for this year will ``likely be raised in the months ahead,'' said Amy Reynolds, an economist at the London-based Grains Council. The country ``potentially could be the largest importer in the world this year.''
Egypt is the world's biggest importer, at 7.2 million tons, she said. China is the biggest consumer.
Dry weather in France and Germany spurred the Grains Council on Aug. 24 to reduce its estimate of global wheat output to 593 million metric tons from 596 million tons a month earlier. Dry conditions also damaged crops in the U.S., Australia and Argentina.
