Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures posted their biggest-ever weekly gain as prices on Friday jumped by their daily limit on deepening fears that Russia’s attack on Ukraine will cause prolonged disruptions to exports from the Black Sea region.
Trading was volatile amid uncertainty over how much global demand may shift to the United States and to what extent the conflict will hamper crop plantings in Russia and Ukraine.
The most actively traded wheat futures climbed 6.6 per cent, or the expanded 75-cent limit, to a 14-year high of $12.09 a bushel (all figures US$). The contract ended up 40.6 per cent for the week.
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With Ukrainian ports closed and operators reluctant to trade Russian wheat in the face of Western financial sanctions, buyers are trying to find alternative suppliers.
Louis Dreyfus, one of the world’s largest agricultural commodity merchants, said it had suspended operations in Russia.
Russia’s trade and industry ministry, meanwhile, recommended the country’s fertilizer producers temporarily halt exports.
“Things look scarier than they did yesterday,” said Jim Gerlach, president of commodities broker A/C Trading in Indiana.
CBOT corn rose to its highest price since September 2012 at $7.82-3/4 a bushel before trimming gains as traders booked profits, brokers said. The most-active May contract settled 6-1/2 cents up at $7.54-1/4 and posted weekly gains of 15 per cent.
CBOT soybeans finished down 7-1/4 cents at $16.60-1/2 a bushel and rose five per cent over the week. Traders weighed the loss of sunflower oil exports from Ukraine and Russia against improved soybean crop conditions in South America and profit-taking in oilseeds.
Russia and Ukraine account for about 29 per cent of global wheat exports, 19 per cent of corn exports and 80 per cent of exports of sunflower oil, which competes with soyoil.
Euronext wheat raced to record highs as export demand for EU supplies surged from importers searching for alternatives to Black Sea grain, traders said.
“The demand for wheat on the physical market in (nearby) delivery is unprecedented,” consultancy Agritel said. “Buyers face delivery defaults for Black Sea origins.”
— Reporting for Reuters by Tom Polansek in Chicago, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
