GRAINS-Wheat tops one-week high on worries Russia may curb exports
By Tom Polansek
CHICAGO, Aug 17 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat futures jumped to their highest prices in more than a week on Friday, supported by concerns that Russia may consider curbs on grain exports, traders said.
Talk of potential limits on shipments from Russia, the world's top wheat exporter, fuelled worries about tightening global supplies, after drought has reduced harvests from the Black Sea region to Europe and Australia.
Russia will consider restricting 2018-19 exports once they reach 30 million tonnes, following a request from meat-producing regions, according to traders who met with the agriculture ministry.
The ministry denied it discussed export curbs, although the meeting still added to doubts about Russia's capacity to export a projected 35 million tonnes of wheat in 2018-19.
Constraints on Russian exports would typically increase demand for wheat from the European Union, but the bloc's harvests have suffered from unfavourable dryness, said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for U.S. broker INTL FCStone.
"With the smaller crop in Europe this year, the demand would shift to the United States," Suderman said.
Most-active wheat futures climbed 13-1/2 cents to $5.75-1/2 a bushel by 12:20 CDT (1720 GMT) at the Chicago Board of Trade. Earlier in the session, the contract hit $5.82-3/4, its highest price since Aug. 7.
Most-active soybean futures slumped 12 cents to $8.85 a bushel. Corn futures dipped 3 cents to $3.76-3/4 a bushel, after reaching their highest price since Aug. 10 at $3.82-1/2.
Those losses were a turnaround from Thursday when grain and soy prices rose on plans for Beijing and Washington to hold fresh talks to address the trade war that has reduced U.S. agricultural shipments to China.
China is the world's top importer of soy and last year bought shipments from the United States worth some $12 billion, making the oilseed America's top farm export to China. The trade stand-off, however, has prompted Beijing to impose extra tariffs on imports of U.S. soybeans and shift its purchases to Brazil.
"There is still a lot to overcome between the two countries and we don't want to get too carried away buying beans until more is known," said Tomm Pfitzenmaier, analyst for Summit Commodity Brokerage.
Expectations that U.S. farmers will harvest their biggest soy crop ever this autumn and produce record corn yields also hung over the markets. Next week, traders will digest the results of an annual U.S. crop tour that will assess the condition of hundreds of corn and soy fields stretching from Ohio to Nebraska. (Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Nigel Hunt in London, Editing by David Evans and Phil Berlowitz )
