Wheat Prices Soar on Russia-Ukraine Tensions
The wheat complex surged on Wednesday due to tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The Chicago SRW contracts rose by $0.22-$0.25, while KC HRW futures gained $0.14-$0.21 cents. MPLS spring wheat prices increased by $0.13-$0.15 cents.
Overnight, Ukrainian drone strikes hit Russia's Novorossiysk port, halting operations at the country's largest port. In response, Russia struck a vessel in Ukraine's Odesa port this morning.
The latest NASS Crop Production data showed 1.531 billion bushels of wheat output for 2026, down 5 million bushels from July. Winter wheat remained steady with last month at 990 million bushels, while HRW was down by 8 million bushels and SRW unchanged.
The WASDE report estimated ending stocks for 2026/27 at 717 million bushels, a decrease of 5 million due to reduced production. World ending stocks were raised by 0.41 MMT to 273.25 MMT, primarily driven by increases in Canada and Ukraine's exports.