CBOT wheat falls on hopes for de-escalation in Black Sea fighting
WEAT•Wheat futures fall after hitting two-year high
CHICAGO, July 27 (Reuters) - Wheat prices plunged after hitting a two-year high on Friday as investors assessed hopes that Russian-Ukrainian attacks on ports and shipping may recede.
- CBOT September soft red winter wheat WU26 settled down 18 cents at $6.60 per bushel.
- K.C. September hard red winter wheat KWU26 ended down 16-1/4 cents at $7.29 a bushel and Minneapolis September spring wheat MWEU26 dropped 8 cents to finish at $7.06-1/4 a bushel.
Black Sea tensions and crop conditions remain in focus
- Attacks on grain infrastructure and ships by Russia and Ukraine continued to hamper the movement of cargoes, threatening supplies to importers in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
- Attention remained on reports Ukraine was discussing possible mechanisms to keep vessels moving through its major export ports, raising hopes that Black Sea exports may avoid a major disruption, despite a Ukrainian denial.
- Spring wheat crop ratings held steady in the past week, despite recent hot and dry weather in the northern Plains.
- The USDA left its good-to-excellent rating for nation's spring wheat crop at 53%, unchanged from a week earlier. The rating was above the previous five-year average for the 30th week of the year of 49% good to excellent. Analysts, on average, had expected the USDA to lower its rating by 2 points from a week ago.
- The winter wheat harvest was 81% complete as of Sunday, up from 74% a week ago. Analysts, on average, had expected the harvest to be 83% done.
