The Russian Missiles Attack Odesa, Increasing Wheat Prices

Wheat prices rose Monday after Russian forces attacked Odesa in southern Ukraine.

Chicago wheat futures soared to 4.6% ,, before falling to $7.31 per bushel. 82 1/4 a bushel by 3: 21 p.m. in Singapore.

Corn futures rose by as high as 2.8% on Monday, before experiencing a decrease in gains to 1.4%. Soybeans were only up 0.3 percent.

Prices for wheat fell almost 6 percent Friday, after Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement to let crucial grain shipments leave the three Black Sea ports of Odesa and Pivdennyi.

These prices were not seen before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. It was launched in February.

The agreement was mediated by Turkey, and it has been hailed as an important step towards avoiding a global crisis in food.

Representatives from Turkey as well as Ukraine, Russia and Ukraine met in Istanbul to sign the agreement on Friday with U.N. General Secret Antonio Guterres.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said about the deal Friday. He said: “We are proud to have been instrumental in an initiative which will play a significant role in solving the global hunger crisis that has occupied all of humanity for so long,” Erdogan stated.

The president said that the agreement will help “prevent the threat of hunger which awaits billions in the world .”

Missile Strike

On Monday, Russia said that it had fired cruise missiles at the military infrastructure in Odesa, Ukraine, within a few hours of the signing.

The strike was carried out with “Kalibr rockets”, destroyed Ukrainian military infrastructure and “sent a Ukrainian military vessel to the Kiev regime’s favourite address in a precise strike,” Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Foreign Ministry said via Telegram Sunday.

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The “favorite adres” refers to Ukrainian forces at Snake Island in Black Sea, who told a Russian vessel to “go[explicit]”, before the Russian strike of February.

Serhii Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa military administration, said on Telegram that Kalibr-type cruise missiles hit the infrastructure of the port and that two were shot down by Ukraine’s air defense forces.

“Two struck the port’s infrastructure facilities,” wrote he.

Natalia Humeniuk spoke for the Ukrainian military’s south command , and said that the missiles didn’t hit Odesa’s grain storage.

An estimated 20 million tonnes of grain has been held up in the port of Odesa in southwestern Ukraine, according to the BBC.

Meanwhile, wheat futures rose by 70 percent to a record high of $12. 94 per bushel in the two weeks after the invasion began, prompting concerns that the conflict could impact global supplies, worsen food insecurity and drive prices up further.

Wheat prices have gradually declined roughly 42 percent since reaching those initial highs but U.S. wheat features are still 15 percent above where they were last year, while the Benchmark French milling wheat futures are 65 percent higher than this time last year, according to Business Insider.

The High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrel said Saturday that it “strongly condemned” the attack.

“Striking a target crucial for grain export a day after the signature of Istanbul agreements is particularly reprehensible & again demonstrates Russia’s total disregard for international law & commitments,” Borrell wrote on Twitter.

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Katabella is currently a Turkish reporter. The Epoch Times covers business and news, with a focus on the United States.

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