HAMBURG: European wheat rose again on Monday on fears the war in Ukraine will continue to disrupt Black Sea wheat exports and concern the Ukrainian grain port of Odesa could be a next target for Russia.

December wheat on the Paris-based Euronext unofficially closed up 2.3% or 8.00 euros at a new life-of-contract high of 352.25 euros ($383.32).

Old-crop May futures ended up 2.0% or 7.75 euros at 380.50 euros.

“There seems to be no end in sight to the Ukraine war, on the contrary if you look at how they are targeting the area near the Black Sea. After Mariupol the next port could be Odesa,” a French trader said. More than half of Ukraine’s imports and exports move through the port of Odesa. Rising US markets were also supportive.

In its monthly supply and demand assessment on Friday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) lowered global ending stocks forecast against the background of the Ukraine war.

Continued competition from Black Sea exporters Romania and Bulgaria, coupled with high volumes of Russian shipments, depressed the export outlook in Germany.

Russia exported 400,000 tonnes of grains last week, compared with 560,000 tonnes a week earlier, said Russian consultancy Sovecon. “Cheap prices continue to be offered in export markets by Romania and Bulgaria despite their export surge in recent weeks to replace lost Ukrainian and Russian supplies,” one German trader said. “The west EU is looking rather expensive in Middle Eastern markets.” “Indian wheat is also being offered strongly in Asian markets, as the Bangladesh wheat tender today showed.” Sellers of standard 12% protein wheat for April onwards delivery in Hamburg were offering around 30 euros a tonne over the Euronext May contract with little purchase interest seen.