Wheat falls 1.3 pct, corn down as Black Sea grain deal extended

SINGAPORE

Chicago wheat and corn futures slid yesterday, with prices under pressure after a deal to export grains from war-torn Ukraine was extended over the weekend, easing some of the concerns over global supply.

Soybeans ticked lower on ample supplies from newly harvested record crop in Brazil.

“There wasn’t huge amount of doubt about the Black Sea deal but as far as today’s market action goes, I think the extension of the deal is putting pressure on prices,” said Phin Ziebell, an agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade Wv1 was down 1.3 percent at $7.01 a bushel, and corn Cv1 lost 1 percent to $6.28 a bushel.

The deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain was renewed on March 18 for at least 60 days, half the intended period, after Russia warned any further extension beyond mid-May would depend on the removal of some Western sanctions.

The pact was brokered with Russia and Ukraine by the United Nations and Türkiye in July and renewed for a further 120 days in November. The aim was to combat a global food crisis that was fueled in part by Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine and Black Sea blockade.

Brazil’s National Energy Policy Council on March 17 raised the country’s mandatory blend of biodiesel in diesel to 12 percent starting in April, Mines and Energy Minister, Alexandre Silveira said.

The measure is expected to favor mainly the soybean processing industry, since about 65 percent of the total biodiesel was produced with soy oil in 2022.