By Cassandra Garrison
MEXICO CITY, March 29 (Reuters) – Chicago wheat futures rose to a more than four-week high on Wednesday after Cargill said it would stop shipping grain from its export terminal in Russia.
* The most active wheat contract on the Chicago Stock Exchange (CBOT) was up 1.25% at $7.0825 a bushel at 1517 GMT after hitting $7.24 in early trading, a price not seen since February 27th.
* Corn was up 0.46% at $6.5025 a bushel and soybeans added 0.53% to $14.7550 a bushel.
* Wheat, which had been trading in negative territory in early overnight trading, rose after Russia’s Agriculture Ministry said Cargill had told it it would stop exporting Russian grain from July 1.
* Global grain trader Viterra also plans to stop trading grain in Russia, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
* “I think Russia is taking a clear step to take more control of its assets and physical commodities, waiting for trading conditions to worsen in the next six to 12 months,” said Mike Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics.
* “With this news, I see the likelihood increasing that it will be very difficult for us (the US) to capture more demand,” he added.
* Russian exports could also be hampered if Moscow recommends a temporary halt to wheat and sunflower sales, as Russian business newspaper Vedomosti reported last week.
* Sources later told Reuters that Russia had no plans to halt wheat exports, but wanted exporters to ensure prices paid to farmers were high enough to cover average production costs.
* Corn was slightly higher ahead of Friday’s annual report of planting intentions from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
* Soybeans were largely unchanged after prices hit a one-week high in the previous session on concerns about lower production in drought-hit Argentina.
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City and Naveen Thukral. Editing in Spanish by Javier Leira)
