GRAINS-Wheat eases from 2-year high, Black Sea supply woes limit downside

Attacks on Black Sea ships, ports limit decline in wheat prices

Soybean futures supported by gains in crude oil prices

Adds quote in paragraph 3, updates prices

By Naveen Thukral

- Chicago wheat slid on Thursday after climbing to a two-year high in the previous session, although the decline was limited by attacks on grain vessels and port infrastructure in the Black Sea region.

Soybeans firmed, tracking higher crude prices, while corn ticked lower.

"Grain movement from the Black Sea region has slowed down due to attacks by both Russia and Ukraine," said one agricultural commodities trader in Singapore.

"There is not much impact on supplies for mills in Asia as of now, but we are closely monitoring the situation."

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 fell 0.4% to $7.03-1/4 a bushel by 0303 GMT, having climbed to its highest since May 2024 on Wednesday.

Soybeans Sv1 rose 0.1% to $12.40-1/2 a bushel and corn Cv1 gave up 0.1% to $4.84-1/2 a bushel.

Concerns over supplies from the Black Sea region have driven wheat prices higher in recent weeks as Russia and Ukraine stepped up attacks on grain ships and ports.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday its forces attacked Ukrainian ports and military infrastructure in the Odesa region.

Russia has introduced a temporary ban on vessel movements in and out of the port of Novorossiysk between midnight and 5 a.m. because of Ukrainian drone attacks, three grain industry sources said on Wednesday. Novorossiysk is Russia's biggest port by volume and handles up to one-third of Russia's grain exports.

Expectations of lower output are also supporting wheat prices after crop scouts on the first day of an annual three-day tour of North Dakota's hard red spring wheat crop projected an average yield in the southern portion of the state at 46.0 bushels per acre (bpa) on Tuesday evening.

That figure was 8% below the estimate for the same area last year and just above the five-year average of 45.8 bpa.

The rally in crude oil prices LCOc1, CLc1 lifted soybeans with increasing use of soyoil in making biodiesel, which competes for market share with petroleum.