SINGAPORE- Chicago wheat futures edged lower on Thursday, as investors took a breather after a more than 3 percent jump in the previous session on concerns over the Russia-Ukraine war and adverse weather in key exporting countries.
Corn and soybean prices slid.
“Ukraine’s president worrying aloud that Russia will impede grain flows from his nation after November amplified the price gains (on Wednesday),” said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
“The market’s ongoing worries about Ukraine’s export corridor moved from nascence to reality with those comments.”
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) lost 0.1 percent to $9.02-1/2 a bushel.
Corn gave up 0.1 percent to $6.69-3/4 a bushel and soybeans lost 0.1 percent to $14.06-3/4 a bushel.
Escalating conflict between top grain exporters Russia and Ukraine raised concerns over supplies from the Black Sea region.
Russia is poised to annex a swath of Ukraine after what Kyiv and the West denounced as illegal sham referendums held at gunpoint.
Ukraine’s grain exports are down 41.5 percent year-on-year in the 2022/23 season so far at almost 8 million tons, but the pace of shipments is increasing gradually, agriculture ministry data showed on Wednesday.
The country’s grain exports have slumped since Russia invaded in February because its Black Sea ports were closed off, driving up global food prices and prompting fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East. — Reuters
