CHICAGO: US wheat futures fell 1.9% on Tuesday on a round of profit taking as traders closely monitored prospects for grain exports out of Ukraine.

“Wheat continues to ride the wave of varied rhetoric from the Black Sea that seemingly changes by the minute,” Matt Zeller, director of market information at brokerage StoneX, said in a note to clients.

Corn and soybean futures were firm, with strength in the cash market showing that demand remained strong despite high prices.

At 11:31 a.m. CDT (1631 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat futures for July delivery were down 21-1/4 cents at $10.71-3/4 a bushel.

The contract had soared more than 5% on Monday as reports of Russian strikes on Kyiv and the port of Mykolaiv dampened expectations that a diplomatic deal could be reached to resume sea shipments of Ukrainian grain.

Turkey is coordinating with Russia and Ukraine to agree a plan to re-start grain exports from Ukrainian ports, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said, a day before the country’s foreign minister hosts his Russian counterpart for talks.

Ukraine’s grain, oilseed and vegetable oil exports rose 80% in May month on month 1.743 million tonnes but the volumes are still well below the exports in May 2021, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday.

CBOT July corn futures were up 18-1/2 cents at $7.61 a bushel.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Monday rated 73% of the US corn crop as good to excellent in its first condition ratings for the 2022 crop, above the average estimate of 68% in a Reuters analyst poll.