Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures rose 2.6 per cent on Tuesday, bouncing from their lowest in more than two years, on concerns that Ukraine’s exports were being restricted despite the extension of the Black Sea export deal, traders said.
The gains in wheat lent support to corn futures, while soybeans retreated on profit-taking following their biggest rally in 8-1/2 months on Monday.
Tom Fritz, a partner with EFG Group in Chicago, said the wheat market was “taking its cue” from comments from Ukraine that Russia is blocking its Black Sea grain exports.
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The Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi has halted operations because Russia is not allowing ships to enter it, in effect cutting it out of a deal allowing safe Black Sea grain exports, a Ukrainian official said Tuesday.
The benchmark Chicago Board of Trade July soft red winter wheat contract settled up 16 cents at $6.22-1/4 a bushel.
Prices bottomed out at $5.94-1/4 a bushel overnight. That was the lowest on a continuous basis for the most active contract since March 31, 2021.
CBOT July corn futures ended up 6-1/2 cents at $5.77-1/2 a bushel and CBOT July soybeans lost 18-3/4 cents to $13.22-1/2 a bushel.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly crop progress report, released after Monday’s market close, showed that corn and soybean planting was running ahead of the average pace of the last five years.
USDA rated 31 per cent of the U.S. winter wheat crop in good to excellent condition, up two percentage points from a week earlier and above analysts’ expectations.
— Reporting for Reuters by Mark Weinraub in Chicago; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Matthew Chye in Singapore.
