PARIS: Euronext wheat climbed nearly 6% on Friday as reports about Russian plans to counter falling prices revived concerns about Black Sea supplies, pushing futures up from an 18-month low.

May milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext settled 5.8% higher at 259.25 euros a tonne, moving away from Thursday’s low of 244.00 euros that was the weakest front-month price since Sept. 21, 2021.

A sharp fall in the euro and volatility in financial markets, as investors fretted over risks to banks, may have amplified the price rebound before the weekend, dealers said.

A report in Russian business newspaper Vedomosti saying that Moscow could recommend a temporary halt in wheat and sunflower exports in response to falling prices, caused jitters in the market.

Sources later told Reuters there was no such plan, but that the government wants exporters to pay sufficient prices to cover farmers’ production costs.

“It’s maybe the minimum price idea (in Russia) plus you have the weekend coming and still problems with the banks,” a dealer said. Higher prices in Russia or any moves to curb exports could add to supply uncertainty in the Black Sea region after Moscow said last week it had only agreed to a reduced 60-day extension of the export corridor from Ukraine.

That could change the market outlook for the end of the season, after prices were pressured recently by the continuation of a wartime export corridor from Ukraine, falling Russian prices and improved weather for US and European crops. Euronext rapeseed also rose steeply to move away from a two-year losssw struck this week.

May futures settled up 4.8% at 457.00 euros a tonne, climbing clear of Wednesday’s low of 418.75 euros that marked the weakest front-month price since December 2020.

After recent pressure from ample supplies in Europe, the rapeseed rebound was supported by the report of possible Russian intervention in sunflower exports and chatter of European rapeoil exports to China, dealers said.