Wheat on track for fourth weekly gain on Black Sea supply concerns

Chicago wheat rose on Friday, with the market poised for a fourth weekly gain and trading close to a two-year high, as attacks on grain vessels and port infrastructure in the Black Sea region continued to underpin prices.

Soybeans gained more ground to trade around their highest point since May 2024, while corn hovered near a 15-month top on the back of a rally in crude oil prices.

"The focus in wheat market is tightening supplies, given the situation in Russia and Ukraine," said one grains trader in Singapore. "This is the peak export season for the Black Sea region and if it continues, we will see buyers looking for alternative cargoes."

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.3% at $6.98-1/2 a bushel, as of 0221 GMT.

Soybeans added 0.2% to $12.45-3/4 a bushel, not far from their highest since May 2024 reached in the previous session. Corn edged 0.2% higher to $4.88-1/2 a bushel, after climbing to its highest point since April last year on Thursday.

Attacks on ships and grain-handling infrastructure in Russia and Ukraine are raising worries over global supplies.

Russia will step up attacks on vessels in the Black Sea, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday, accusing Moscow of plans to undermine Ukraine's grain corridor.

Shipowners have temporarily suspended vessel arrivals at Ukraine's Black Sea ports for agricultural exports after a recent surge in Russian attacks on ports and merchant shipping, the country's agriculture minister said.

Scouts on an annual North Dakota crop tour projected on Thursday that hard red spring wheat yields in the top-producing state will average 48.0 bushels per acre, down from 49.0 bpa last year but above the tour's five-year average of 45.8 bpa.