US Grain Prices Rise on Heat Wave, Renewed Russian Attack

Grain prices rose in the US amid uncertainty created by a heat wave in America’s farm belt and another Russian attack on Ukraine’s crop terminals.

(Bloomberg) — Grain prices rose in the US amid uncertainty created by a heat wave in America’s farm belt and another Russian attack on Ukraine’s crop terminals. 

Corn for December delivery rose as much as 2% at the Chicago Board of Trade, partially erasing losses for the previous two sessions. Wheat futures gained as much as 2.3%. 

Excessive heat and dryness are threatening to dry out Midwest crops in the final few weeks of the growing season, putting at risk a bumper US harvest. Yields in Nebraska, Indiana and Ohio look poised to trail an August projection by the US Department of Agriculture, based on samples collected in the first two days of the the Pro Farmer Crop Tour.

Meanwhile, Russian drones struck Ukrainian grain infrastructure near the Danube River, the latest in a raft of attacks on the waterway that’s vital for getting Ukraine’s exports out to markets now that Black Sea ports are shut. Several crop terminals at Izmail port on the Danube were damaged overnight, curbing its export capacity by 15%, according to Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.

Soybean futures for November delivery rose as much as 1.1% in Chicago. Rumors that China is looking for US soybean cargoes helped fuel the gain, according to Vinicius Ito, director at Marex North America in New York.

 

 

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