Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat, soybean and corn climbed on Monday, underpinned by disrupted supplies of Black Sea grains as the conflict in Ukraine continues, while attention shifts to U.S. production.
Chicago Board of Trade most-active wheat ended 25-3/4 cents higher at $10.10-1/4 a bushel (all figures US$).
Soybeans added 19-1/2 cents to $16.02-1/4 per bushel, while corn firmed 15-1/2 cents to $7.50-1/2 per bushel.
Ukrainian grain exports in March were four times less than February levels due to the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s economy ministry said, while exporters look for ways to ship grain by rail as sea ports remain blocked by Russian forces.
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“It’s a multi-year event, no matter who turns out in control of the area,” said Chuck Shelby, president of Risk Management Commodities. “That reality has come back into play in all commodities this morning.”
U.S. private exporters reported the sale of 1.084 million tonnes of corn to China — 676,000 tonnes for delivery in the 2021-22 marketing year and 408,000 tonnes for delivery in 2022-23, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
“We haven’t seen one this large in, I don’t know how long,” said Joe Vaclavik, president of Standard Grain. “More than half of that sale is corn they intend to take delivery of prior to the end of August.”
Additionally, 1.53 million tonnes of corn were inspected for export the week ended March 31, near the high end of analyst expectations.
U.S. soybean shipments of 737,372 tonnes were in line with analyst predictions. Wheat shippers saw 297,341 tonnes inspected, near the low end of analyst projections.
U.S. farmers have seeded two per cent of intended acres and three per cent of spring wheat acres as of Sunday, USDA said, in line with analyst predictions.
The U.S. winter wheat crop was graded 30 per cent good-to-excellent, down 13 points from a year ago, and 10 points below analyst expectations.
“Until the market’s comfortable that we’ll have a really good crop, I think you’ll see premium put in this market,” said Shelby.
— Reporting for Reuters by Christopher Walljasper; additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila.
