Wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade moved in mixed fashion on Thursday, with contracts penciled in to open in a narrow band roughly 2 cents higher to 5 cents lower per bushel.
Market attention was divided between disruption risks tied to maritime activity in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov and routine profit-taking by traders after many contracts hit life-of-contract highs. Reports of attacks on grain ships and port infrastructure in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov - attributed to both Russia and Ukraine in recent reporting - elevated concerns about global supplies. In response to a recent uptick in Russian attacks on ports and merchant vessels, shipowners temporarily halted vessel arrivals at Ukraine's Black Sea ports for agricultural exports, according to Ukraine's agriculture minister.
At the same time, price advances were restrained as market participants realized gains and sold on technical factors following the run-up to contract peaks. Traders cited profit-taking and technical selling as a countervailing force to supply-driven bullish signals.
Domestic data added further texture. Crop scouts conducting an annual three-day tour of North Dakota's hard red spring wheat crop projected an average yield of 48.0 bushels per acre across the northwest and north-central part of the state. That projected figure compares with last year's 47.1 bushels per acre in the same area and stands above the tour's five-year average of 43.8 bushels.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported net U.S. wheat export sales of 290,016 metric tons for the week ended July 16. That weekly tally fell within the range of trade expectations, which spanned from 200,000 to 550,000 tons.
On contract specifics, CBOT September soft red winter wheat last traded up 1-1/2 cents at $7.07-1/4 per bushel. Kansas City September hard red winter wheat declined 1 cent to $7.62-1/2 per bushel, and Minneapolis September spring wheat slipped 1-1/2 cents to $7.27-1/2 per bushel.
The market therefore presented a mixed picture: supply concerns stemming from maritime disruptions on one hand, and profit-taking and technical resistance on the other, with U.S. yield projections and weekly export sales adding further data points for traders to price into the market.