Violence erupting in Ukraine’s main grain-exporting city of Odessa has pushed wheat prices to a one-year high, compounding already-existing global supply concerns because of drought and freezing weather in the U.S. causing damage to the U.S. crop.   Odessa and four other Black Sea ports handle 87% of Ukraine’s grain exports.  The U.S. is predicted to harvest the smallest wheat crop since 2006 as freezes and four consecutive years of drought affect the Great Plains.  The intensifying and spreading violence in Ukraine has the market concerned over Ukrainian infrastructure.  Ukraine grain exports have dropped since mid-April and corn shipments were less than 200,000 tons in the past seven days.  The U.S. is the biggest global wheat exporter and Russia and Ukraine are expected to rank 5^th and 6^th in the 2013/14 season.

 

Read the article

 

To receive relevant news stories with summaries provided by GAI Research & Insight, subscribe to Global AgDevelopments, our free weekly enhanced eNews service