(Paris) The prices of milling wheat and corn closed on Tuesday at a new record on the European market, respectively at 351.25 and 340 euros per tonne for the March 2022 deadline, galvanized by the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.
Posted at 2:17 p.m.
Cereal prices continued their surge from the day before, as the crisis took hold.
Ukrainian ports blocked
Ukrainian ports are still blocked and demand is strong, with “buyers looking for solutions” to replace the Ukrainian cargoes on which they hoped to be able to count, Damien Vercambre, broker for the firm Inter-Courtage, told AFP.
“Nothing has really changed today, but the markets are starting to take stock of the situation: exports from Ukraine have come to a complete standstill and the urgency of finding new outlets,” he added. he continued.
Egypt, which has been looking for three days to buy wheat, “has once again canceled its call for tenders, probably judging the prices too high”, noted the Agritel firm.
The situation is very tense on corn: “To date Ukraine has exported 18.7 million tonnes of corn out of a total expected by the end of the campaign at more than 33 million tonnes”, recalls Agritel.
As the conflict escalates, no one knows when the slightest grain will be able to leave Ukraine.
“China was expecting 4 to 5 million tonnes of Ukrainian maize and is looking to source it elsewhere,” Vercambre said.
In wheat, the previous record was beaten on Monday evening, with one tonne closing at 322.50 euros on the March 2022 deadline on Euronext.
On the European market, the previous record for corn dates back to August 4: the price had then reached 320 euros at the close.