Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat futures Wv1 pared gains after setting five-month highs on Tuesday after Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian ports and grain infrastructure raised concerns about long-term global supplies and triggered a round of fund short-covering, analysts said.
The wheat market pared gains and even dipped lower at times as traders awaited further developments in the Black Sea.
Meanwhile, corn and soybean futures fell on technical selling and ideas that hot weather in the U.S. Midwest this week could be short-lived.
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CBOT September wheat WU3 settled up 2-3/4 cents at $7.60-1/4 per bushel, easing after a climb to $7.77-1/4, the contract’s highest since late February. December corn CZ3 ended down 3 cents at $5.65-1/4 a bushel and November soybeans SX3 fell 4-1/2 cents to settled at $14.20 a bushel.
CBOT wheat had soared its daily 60-cent limit on Monday after Russia destroyed Ukrainian grain warehouses on the Danube River in a drone attack, targeting a vital export route for Kyiv in an expanding air campaign that Moscow began last week after quitting the Black Sea grain deal.
But the market pulled back from five-month highs on Tuesday as Russia appeared to slow its port attacks.
“There was no bombing overnight, so maybe the offensive has slowed down a little bit,” said Don Roose, president of Iowa-based U.S. Commodities.
The International Monetary Fund estimated that Russia’s exit from a deal allowing Ukrainian exports via the Black Sea could drive global grain prices up by 10-15%, but said it was continuing to assess the situation.
Corn futures turned lower in early moves after the December contract CZ3 was unable to match Monday’s one-month high of $5.72-1/4 a bushel, a bearish technical signal.
“Funds had targeted that (price level) as a selling area if the market could not hold. That has brought on fund selling, and a bit of farmer selling as well,” said Sterling Smith, director of agricultural research at AgriSompo North America.
Traders continue to monitor crop weather in the U.S. Midwest as the region’s corn finishes pollinating, a key growth stage in determining yields, while soybeans approach their pod-setting phase in August.
“Until we have a better idea of what (soybean) yields are, expect beans to be more of a follower,” Smith said.
–Reporting for Reuters by Julie Ingwersen; additional reporting by Naveen Thukral, Enrico Dela Cruz, Sybille de La Hamaide and Michael Hogan.
