PARIS: European wheat prices jumped 7 percent on Wednesday as escalating Black Sea attacks raised concerns over key grain export routes, with traders expecting some demand to shift to European Union supplies. Benchmark September milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext, ended the daytime trading session 7 percent higher at €231.75 (USD265) a metric ton, a price not seen since February last year.
Chicago wheat was up 5.6 percent by the same time while Kansas hard red winter wheat futures hit the 45-cent daily limit.
It gained more than 13 percent since the end of last week when rumors about a possible closure of the Sea of Azov to shipping sparked concern about disruption to exports from Russia, the world’s biggest wheat supplier. Meanwhile, Russia in recent days has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s deepwater Black Sea ports in the Greater Odesa area, which handle much of the country’s grain and other cargo and are vital to its wartime economy.
Ukraine has lost about a third of its capacity to export grain via its vital Black Sea ports due to intensifying Russian missile and drone attacks, the country’s main farmers’ union said.
“Euronext wheat is rallying on escalating Black Sea risk, with vessels now increasingly at the center of the conflict. Ukraine has been targeting mainly oil tankers, while Russia is now reported to be hitting cargo vessels leaving Ukrainian ports,” CM Navigator analyst Donatas Jankauskas said.
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