October 17, 2008

A trader said that the agricultural markets are not escaping the bearish trend and fears of recession are prompting fear of a drop in demand in the coming months.

The usual indicators of the health of the industry such as the Chicago commodities exchange are cast aside.

Now, it is the CAC 40, the Nikkei or the Dow Jones (stock indexes) that are dictating the trend, he added.

The standard French wheat price fell further to EUR138/tonne on Thursday from EUR142.25 on Wednesday. It has declined from a peak of UER248/tonne in February.

European grain and oilseed future contracts were all either down or unchanged on Thursday during mid-day trading on the Euronext exchange.

Mounting fears of global recession affected world stocks on Thursday, with Tokyo suffering its worst loss for two decades, closing down more than 11 percent.