HAMBURG: Chicago wheat, corn and soybean futures rose on Monday on geo-political tensions as military clashes between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas generated fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East. Rises in corn and soybeans were limited by positive US harvest conditions.

Chicago Board of Trade most active wheat was up 1.7% to $5.78 a bushel at 1117 GMT. Corn rose 0.6% to $4.95-1/4 a bushel, soybeans rose 0.5% to $12.73-1/2 a bushel.

Crude oil prices also surged on Monday. “Wheat, corn and soybeans are seeing support from geo-political factors today because of the sudden fighting in the Middle East,” said Matt Ammermann, StoneX commodity risk manager.

“Conflicts in the Middle East generally mainly hit energy markets but we are seeing an impact on other commodities today.” “Wheat is also being underpinned by concern about harvests in the southern hemisphere, with Argentine wheat conditions declining.”

“There were also weekend attacks by Russia on Ukrainian grain facilities, but the Ukrainians are looking remarkably resilient and recover quickly.”

A Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s Odesa region damaged port grain infrastructure, Ukrainian authorities said on Saturday. “Rises in corn and soybeans are being limited by overall positive weather for US harvests,” Ammermann said. “This week will see active harvesting for soybeans and corn across the US Midwest, with weather forecasts overall showing no reason for concern.”

“We could see the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) making positive estimates that 50% of US soybeans have been harvested and about 40% of US corn when the USDA gives its crop progress later on Monday, raising hopes the US crops will be safely gathered in around three weeks from now.” Analysts expect a USDA report on Oct. 12 to hardly change its estimates for US corn and soybean harvests.