Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have left a strong mark on the wheat market today. Expectations were tempered beforehand. However, the report in the afternoon that Russia is scaling down military activities caused the wheat price to fall sharply.
This morning, shortly after the opening of the Matif, the price of the May contract for wheat rose to €373,50 per tonne. The news that Russia wants to drastically reduce military activities around Kiev and Chernihiv, however, caused the listing to plummet. In the course of the afternoon, the price even dropped below €350 to €347,50 per tonne. That is the lowest intraday price of this month. The Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were cautiously positive about the results of the four-hour talks in Istanbul. This was immediately reflected in the wheat quotation.
No Ceasefire
But there is certainly no truce yet. Russia may be scaling down operations around Kiev, but there's no sign of shutting down operations completely. According to some experts, it is even conceivable that the fighting in eastern Ukraine will intensify further and that troops and equipment currently active around Kiev will be moved there. By the end of the day, that realization also dawned on traders on the Matif. The May contract closed at €357,50 per tonne, a decrease of 3,31% compared to yesterday. The September contract lost 4,36% to close at €322,25 per tonne. For the other contracts for the new harvest, this will gradually expire at €312,75 per tonne (3,25% lower than yesterday) for the May 2023 contract.