CBOT wheat hits new three-year high on escalating Black Sea conflict
WEAT•CBOT and Kansas City contracts end higher
CBOT December soft red winter wheat WZ26 futures finished 12-1/2 cents higher to $7.60-3/4 per bushel.
K.C. December hard red winter wheat KWZ26 settled 13-1/4 cents higher to $8.22 per bushel, and MWEZ26 settled 9-3/4 cents higher to $7.57-3/4 per bushel.
Wheat futures rally on Black Sea supply fears
CHICAGO, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures rose to a three-year high on Thursday, extending the previous session's limit-up rally, as reports that Russia may intensify strikes on Ukraine fueled fears of prolonged disruptions to the massive Black Sea grain trade.
- The market was rattled by a Bloomberg News report that Russia was considering stepping up ballistic missile strikes on Ukraine after concluding that efforts to negotiate a peace deal have reached a dead end.
- That came after tit-for-tat attacks in recent weeks already brought grain loadings at Russian and Ukrainian Black Sea ports to a virtual halt.
- Wheat crops in France and in the U.S. Plains that were damaged by blistering heat and drought set up the market for a rally before the latest developments in Russia's war in Ukraine, industry players said.
- The report said negotiation frameworks had effectively collapsed, while President Vladimir Putin remained unlikely to end the war in response to sanctions or Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries and logistics networks.
