Recasts, adds details, updates prices

By Sybille de La Hamaide and Naveen Thukral

PARIS/SINGAPORE, July 23 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat climbed to a two-year high on Thursday after attacks on grain vessels and port infrastructure in the Black Sea region prompted ship owners to suspend port arrivals.

Soybeans and corn firmed, tracking higher crude prices.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 was up 0.5% to $7.09-1/2 a bushel by 1205 GMT, its highest since May 2024.

Soybeans Sv1 rose 0.7% to $12.47-1/4 a bushel and corn Cv1 gained 0.9% to $4.89 a bushel.

"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.

Ukraine's agriculture minister said ship owners had temporarily suspended vessel arrivals at Ukraine's Black Sea ports for agricultural exports after a recent surge in Russian attacks on ports and merchant shipping.

Three traders said ship owners had taken similar decisions at Russia's Black Sea ports. Reuters could not immediately confirm the information.

However, market participants in Russia said operations in Novorossiysk as well as in the ports of Taman and Tuapse were up and running by the morning after the overnight suspension of vessels' entry and exit.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday Russia will step up attacks on vessels in the Black Sea, accusing Moscow of plans to undermine Ukraine's grain corridor.

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.

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, driven by increased use of soyoil in biodiesel production, which competes for market share with petroleum.

Prices at 1205 GMT
	Last	Change	Pct Move
CBOT wheat Wv1	709.50	3.75	0.53
CBOT corn Cv1	489.00	4.25	0.88
CBOT soy Sv1	1247.25	8.25	0.67
Paris wheat BL2U6	245.50	1.25	0.51
Paris maize EMAc1	261.75	2.75	1.06
Paris rapeseed COMc1	541.75	1.25	0.23
Euro/dlr EUR=	1.14	-0.002	-0.17
Most active contracts - Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel, Paris futures in euros per tonne