On the evening of the 14th Beijing time, wheat prices hit their highest level since July 31, 2023 in early trading on Tuesday EST.
The commodity's July futures once hit a high of 696 cents per bushel. In July of last year, wheat was traded at a high price of 703 cents. 1 bushels equals 26.309 kg.
The main reason for the rise in wheat prices is that Russian crops are damaged by frost. Russia is the world's largest exporter of wheat.
According to reports from local Russian authorities, in the so-called black earth belt — which includes Voronezh, Tambov, and Lipetsk regions, some crops have died due to low temperatures. According to officials, in Voronezh alone, up to 265,000 hectares of crops were damaged before May 9.
A state of emergency was declared in the region as nighttime temperatures dropped to minus 6 degrees Celsius on several nights in the past few weeks. Crops in Russia's Black Earth Belt include wheat, oilseeds, and corn.
Russia is the world's largest exporter of wheat. Some have lowered their estimates for the country's wheat harvest this year, pushing Chicago's benchmark wheat futures price to the highest level since August last year.