Wheat rises after Russian attack on Ukrainian grain port
Concern about Ukrainian grain shipments after port attack
Soybeans rise on bargain buying, corn firm
Updates with European trade, adds trader comment in paragraph 7, changes dateline to Singapore
By Naveen Thukral and Michael Hogan
SINGAPORE, Aug 15 (Reuters) -Chicago wheat rose on Thursday as an overnight Russian attack on Ukraine's Odesa grain export port, and expectations of lower output in France, underpinned prices.
Soybeans rose on bargain-buying after hitting four-year lows this week. Corn rose on spillover support from wheat, although gains in both were curbed by expectations of large global supplies.
"(The) Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian port of Odessa last night is the main factor supporting prices today," said one grain trader in Singapore.
The Chicago Board of Trade's most-active wheat Wv1 rose 1.5% to $5.42-3/4 a bushel by 1115 GMT.
Soybeans Sv1 rose 0.6% to $9.74-3/4 a bushel, and corn Cv1 rose 0.3% to $4.02-3/4 a bushel.
Russian forces attacked port infrastructure in Ukraine's southern city of Odesa on Wednesday evening, injuring at least two people, Ukrainian officials said.
“With the intensified fighting people are wondering if Russia will start hindering Ukraine's very large seagoing grain exports,” one European trader said. “But there seem to be no immediate indications of systematic Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports on Thursday so prices pulled back from their peaks."
Ukraine has achieved a high volume of grain exports by ship this year despite a lack of Russian safety guarantees for vessels.
Big wheat exporter France has suffered rain damage to both volume and quality of the summer’s crop, possibly reducing competition in world markets to other exporters.
Soybeans saw buying interest after hitting four-year lows this week after the U.S. agriculture department forecast a record U.S. soy harvest. Lacklustre demand from top importer China also pressured prices.
Traders said U.S. weather forecasts did not present immediate risks to U.S. soybeans and corn.
Traders are also monitoring the impact of drought in Ukraine, where producers warned the corn crop could shrink by a third from last year if there is no rain relief.
Reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and David Holmes
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