CHICAGO: Chicago wheat futures fell on Wednesday as the market assessed diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war with Ukraine against continued disruption to Black Sea exports.
Profit-taking after a steady run-up in prices also weighed, analysts said. Corn and soybeans eased, with attention turning towards US Department of Agriculture forecasts on Friday that will offer a gauge of weather damage to Midwest crops.
The most-traded wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 7-1/2 cents to USD7.39-1/4 per bushel as of 9:45 a.m. (1445 GMT), holding below a 3-1/2-year high of USD7.95 struck last week.
Wheat prices rose earlier as news of a Ukrainian strike on the Russian port of Novorossiysk put the focus back on war disruption to Black Sea trade.
Ukraine struck targets at Novorossiysk including a naval base and a terminal for loading oil, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. Traders cited unconfirmed talk that grain infrastructure at the port had also been damaged.
However, comments by the Kremlin saying that Russia hopes US-mediated talks will resume soon and that it sees Abu Dhabi as a preferred venue for such talks, put the focus back on diplomatic efforts. CBOT corn fell 1-1/2 cents to USD5.32 a bushel, while soybeans ticked down 4-1/2 cents to USD13.11-1/2 a bushel.
Corn and soybeans both struck their highest in around three years last week, supported by concerns about US yields and the Black Sea disruptions.
The USDA’s supply-and-demand forecasts on Friday are awaited as an indicator of the extent to which hot, dry spells this summer hurt US Midwest crops. On Tuesday, the USDA estimated that 56percent of the corn crop was in good-to-excellent condition, down 1 percentage point from the previous week but in line with average analyst expectations. The good/excellent score for soybeans was unchanged at 58percent, exceeding average expectations of a 1 point fall.
Chinese purchases of US soybeans provided underlying support to Chicago soy futures. On Wednesday morning, the USDA reported that exporters sold 340,000 metric tons of soybeans to China for 2026/2027 delivery, with an additional 100,000 tons sold to unknown destinations.
A rally in oil prices, with Brent futures on Wednesday surpassing USD100 a barrel for the first time since July, has also lent support to corn and soybeans that are widely used for producing biofuel.