US wheat futures rose 2.3 percent to a three-week high on Thursday, supported by concerns that escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia would curtail shipments from those two key grain exporters, traders said. "The grains were reasonably stable overnight, until it was reported this morning that Russian troops were launching offenses in south-eastern Ukraine," Matt Zeller, director of market information at INTL FCStone, said in a note to clients.
"That has perked up the wheat trade in a hurry, and generously donated a few cents to corn and bean causes." The jump in wheat prices was the biggest in nearly two weeks but strength in corn and soyabeans was muted by expectations of a big harvest and beneficial weather forecasts that will shepherd the crops through their late stages of development.
At 11:23 am CDT (1623 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat for September delivery was 12 cents higher at $5.59-1/4 a bushel, the highest for the front-month contract since hitting $5.68 on August 7. CBOT December wheat , the most actively traded wheat contract, was 12-1/2 cents higher at $5.74-3/4 a bushel December wheat received additional support from technical buyers after passing through resistance at its 50-day moving average for the first time since May 14.
Ukraine's president said on Thursday that Russian forces had entered his country and Russian-backed separatists had swept into the south-eastern city of Novoazovsk on the Sea of Azov coast and threatened other areas. "The crisis is getting closer to Mariupol," a key trading port, a trader said, although there was no indication yet the situation would hurt Ukraine's wheat exports.
Ukraine kept grain exports at a high level in August, shipping 2.17 million tonnes of grains from August 1 to 26, of which there were 1.19 million tonnes of wheat, agriculture consultancy UkrAgroConsult said on Thursday. CBOT September soyabeans were up 8-1/4 cents at $10.94 a bushel in volatile trading ahead of the first notice day for the contract. New-crop November, the first contract to track what is expected to be a record harvest in the United States, was up 4-1/2 cents at $10.28-1/4 a bushel. CBOT September corn was 2-1/2 cents higher at $3.58-1/2 a bushel while new-crop December gained 2-1/2 cents to $3.67-1/2.