Wheat heads for third weekly loss as traders assess Black Sea export risks

Chicago wheat futures edged lower on Friday and were headed for a third consecutive weekly decline as traders assessed whether disruptions to grain exports from the Black Sea region could lead to supply shortages.

Corn and soybean prices, meanwhile, moved higher but remained on course for modest weekly losses ahead of the US Department of Agriculture's monthly crop supply and demand report on August 12, which could influence the direction of prices.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell 0.1% to $6.30-3/4 a bushel by 06:03 GMT, leaving it down 1.3% for the week.

Wheat has retreated from a two-year high above $7 a bushel reached two weeks ago, but remains more than 25% higher since the beginning of the year after drought reduced the size of the US winter wheat crop.

Prices climbed in July as Ukraine launched attacks on Russian ports, vessels and export terminals, prompting retaliatory strikes from Moscow. Russia is the world's largest wheat exporter, while Ukraine is also a major supplier.

The governor of Ukraine's Odesa region said on Thursday that a Russian attack damaged a foreign-flagged vessel carrying wheat, killing one crew member and starting a fire.

Dennis Voznesenski, an analyst at Commonwealth Bank, said both countries have already harvested substantial quantities of wheat.

"The grain is there. The big question now is whether they can get it out, and that's the key factor determining whether prices move higher or lower," Voznesenski said.

He added that the market has so far treated the disruptions as temporary, while prices are also facing pressure from the ongoing Northern Hemisphere harvest, which is bringing additional grain supplies onto the market.

Corn and soybeans rise

In other crop markets, CBOT corn futures rose 0.3% to $4.63-1/2 a bushel, although they remained on track for a weekly decline of 0.1%.

Soybean futures gained 0.5% to $11.83 a bushel but were still down 0.4% from last Friday's close.

Traders said China purchased at least 10 additional cargoes of US soybeans, extending a recent wave of buying ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's expected visit to the United States next month.

Meanwhile, commodity data firm Expana cut its forecast for the European Union's 2026/27 corn crop by 4.6 million metric tons to 49.1 million tons following a spell of hot and dry weather.

The firm also lowered its forecast for the EU soft wheat crop.