BEIJING- Chicago wheat futures ticked lower on Wednesday although renewed threats of disruptions to Black Sea supplies as the war in Ukraine escalates kept the contract near a one-week high.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade dipped 0.66 percent to $5.64 a bushel, but hovered close to its highest since Nov. 12 hit on Tuesday.
Ukraine used US long-range missiles to strike Russian territory on Tuesday, taking advantage of newly granted permission from the outgoing Biden administration on the Ukraine war’s 1,000th day.
“This region’s supplies is the key contributor of grains to the Middle East and Africa, and the potential for a return to the supply chain disruptions of prior years was a concern,” said Andrew Whitelaw, an analyst at agricultural consultants Episode 3 in Canberra.
“Our expectation is that this rise of the past couple of sessions will be short-lived. There has been little fundamental information to maintain the rally unless Putin attacks the grain infrastructure in Ukraine,” Whitelaw said. Ukraine’s wheat harvest may increase to up to 25 million tons next year from an expected 22 million tons this year thanks to a larger sowing area, the first deputy agriculture minister Taras Vysotskiy told Reuters in an interview.
