Wheat Gains as Frost May Curb Ukrainian Production, Exports

Wheat Gains as Frost May Curb Ukrainian Production, Exports

Wheat rose in Chicago on speculation
freezing weather will curb Ukrainian production and exports of
the grain. Soybeans climbed for a fourth session.
“Extreme cold weather” in the past three weeks hurt
plants in Ukraine that lacked protective snow cover, Telvent DTN
said in a report yesterday. Ice at ports and in shipping lanes
is slowing deliveries from the country, Christopher Gadd, a
London-based analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd., said today.
“The ports are frozen up, and moving grain around right
now is a nightmare,” Gadd said by phone. “There are massive
issues that are limiting grain exports out of the region. You
can’t see selling pressure come back to the wheat complex until
you see the weather abate in the Black Sea region.”
Wheat for May delivery gained 0.2 percent to $6.405 a
bushel by 1:15 p.m. London time on the Chicago Board of Trade,
paring an increase of as much as 0.7 percent. Milling wheat for
May delivery traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris fell 0.4 percent to
205 euros ($268) a metric ton.
Ukraine is the seventh-biggest global wheat exporter,
according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A cold front
killed hundreds of people in eastern Europe in the last few
weeks and disrupted shipping traffic on the Danube river.
Soybeans for May delivery gained 0.6 percent to $12.695 a
bushel in Chicago, for a 3.4 percent increase since trading
ended on Feb. 9. The oilseed rose on speculation rainfall in
Brazil will delay harvesting after dry weather curbed production
in the country, predicted by the USDA to be the world’s biggest
exporter this year.
Scattered showers fell yesterday in the Brazilian states of
Mato Grosso, Goias, Sao Paulo, Parana and Mato Grosso do Sul,
causing some interruptions to soybean harvesting, Commodity
Weather Group said in a report today.
Corn for May delivery was little changed at $6.3825 a
bushel. The grain has dropped 1.3 percent this year.