U.S. grains: Wheat limit up after Russia invades Ukraine
Soyoil futures hit all-time high on vegoil supply concerns
| 2 min read
By Karl Plume
CBOT May 2022 wheat (candlesticks) with 20- and 100-day moving averages (green and black lines) and K.C. May 2022 wheat (orange line). (Barchart)
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures spiked by their daily trading limit on Thursday to their highest since mid-2012 and corn futures touched eight-month peaks after Russian forces attacked Ukraine, exacerbating worries over global grain supplies.
Soyoil futures notched an all-time high on concerns about global vegetable oil supplies amid conflict in the major sunflower oil-producing region. Soybean futures eased on profit-taking after setting fresh 9-1/2-year highs overnight.
Russian forces invaded Ukraine by land, air and sea, confirming the worst fears of the West with the biggest attack by one state on another in Europe since the Second World War.
Russia and Ukraine account for about 29 per cent of global wheat exports, 19 per cent of corn supplies and 80 per cent of sunflower oil exports. Traders worry the conflict could trigger a scramble to replace those supplies.
Ukraine’s military suspended commercial shipping at its ports, and Moscow suspended the movement of commercial vessels in the Azov Sea until further notice, though it kept Russian ports in the Black Sea open.
Still, top wheat importer Egypt canceled its latest purchasing tender after receiving just one offer after the invasion.
“With the ports shut down, that takes a big chunk of grain off the global market and that might send more business to the U.S.,” said Ted Seifried, chief agriculture strategist for the Zaner Group.
Chicago Board of Trade May wheat was up its daily 50-cent trading limit at $9.34-3/4 a bushel, the highest point for a most-active contract since July 2012 (all figures US$).
Trading limits in CBOT wheat and in K.C. hard red winter wheat futures will expand to 75 cents for Friday’s session, the CME Group said.
May corn was up nine cents at $6.90-1/4 a bushel after earlier peaking at an eight-month high of $7.16-1/4.
May soybeans topped at $17.59-1/4 a bushel, the highest for a most-active contract since September 2012, but retreated to settle at $16.54, down 17 cents. May soyoil was up 1.28 cents at 72 cents/lb. after peaking at 74.72 cents, the highest on record for a most-active contract.
All U.S. wheat, corn, soybean and soyoil contracts posted life-of-contract highs on Thursday.
— Karl Plume reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago; additional reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris, Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila and Emily Chow in Beijing.
