Chicago wheat falls as Turkey prepares Black Sea grain passage plan

Business Recorder reported that Chicago wheat futures slipped on Tuesday after Turkey disclosed it was communicating with Russia and Ukraine about grain shipping across the Black Sea. The most actively traded wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade lost 0.29 per cent to $7.71-3/4 a bushel by 0320 GMT, while corn eased 0.2 per cent and soybeans climbed 0.8 per cent. Turkey has drawn up a scheme for safe grain passage and has repeatedly backed reviving a UN-brokered deal.

Wheat futures had touched a three-year high last week, buoyed by reports that Russian strikes might hit central Kyiv and critical infrastructure elsewhere in Ukraine. Attacks in recent months have brought almost all grain shipments through Black Sea and Sea of Azov ports to a halt, ports that once made up 70% of Russian grain exports. Business Recorder also cited Reuters reporting that Russian exporters are shifting shipments to the Baltic Sea following Ukrainian drone strikes in the region.

Soybeans were lifted by higher oil prices, which climbed as renewed clashes involving the US and Iran stoked concern over supply, and by solid export demand. The USDA reported that exporters had sold 159,000 tons of American soybeans for shipment to unidentified destinations. The agency also lowered its rating of the soybean crop to 58% good-to-excellent from 60% a week earlier, while corn's good-to-excellent rating held at 57%.