Wheat futures rose, while paring their earlier surge, as traders weigh new attacks at Ukraine’s ports and stiff global export competition.
(Bloomberg) — Wheat futures rose, while paring their earlier surge, as traders weigh new attacks at Ukraine’s ports and stiff global export competition.
Russian drones struck a Ukrainian port on the Danube River, damaging grain-storage facilities. Government and industry officials with knowledge of the situation said the attacks hit Izmail, one of Ukraine’s biggest river terminals near the border with Romania.
Read more: Russian drones hits Danube port key to Ukraine grain exports.
The Danube River has become an increasingly important outlet for Ukrainian crop exports, following Russia’s recent exit from the Black Sea grain deal. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan highlighted the importance of resuming the deal in a phone call with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
Wheat futures in Chicago jumped as much as 4.9% to $6.84 a bushel, before paring gains to $6.605.
In tandem, traders are weighing global wheat-export competition as Northern Hemisphere harvests progress. There has been a streak of import tenders in recent days. Egypt’s state buyer is also holding one Wednesday, giving fresh insight on which origins are the most appealing.
Russia has previously attacked ports in the Odesa region and on the Danube in a bid to disrupt Ukraine’s exports. Last week, it attacked the Danube port of Reni, sending wheat up by the exchange limit that day.
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