A missile hitting a ship in the Southern port led to a speculative increase in wheat prices
The news of a missile hitting a ship in the port of Pivdenny led to a sharp speculative increase in wheat quotations.
As it turned out, during the port call of a civilian ship under the flag of Liberia to load ore, the Russians from a tactical aircraft in the Black Sea hit the ship's superstructure with an anti-radar missile Kh-31P, once again confirming its identity as a terrorist country. As a result of the incident, the Ukrainian pilot died, 3 crew members (citizens of the Philippines) were injured, one of them was hospitalized, and a port worker was also injured.
Against this background, December wheat futures rose in price yesterday:
- by 3.8% to $217.6/t - for soft winter SRW wheat in Chicago,
- by 3.6% to $240.7/t - for hard winter HRW wheat in Kansas City,
- by 1.6% to $270.2/t - for hard spring HRS-wheat in Minneapolis,
- by 1.5% to €235.75/t or $252.5/t for wheat on the Paris Euronext.
Quotations were also supported by the results of the tenders, in which the Algerian agency OAIS purchased 580,000 tons of food wheat (presumably of Black Sea and French origin) at a price of $266/t C&F with delivery in December-January, and the Jordanian state agency - 60,000 tons of wheat from the Ameropa company at a price of $276/t with delivery in the first half of February 2024.
Traders do not expect much change in the global wheat balance in the USDA report due out today.
US MSG experts believe that wheat production in the country will not change significantly over the next 10 years: the sown area will remain at 45.5 million acres, and the harvest will remain at 37 million tons. Wheat prices will also be stable at $6/bushel or $220/ton.
