Wheat price hits 14-year highs

Chicago wheat futures rose by more than 6 per cent on Monday to 14-year highs on concern global supplies will be disrupted until the Russia-Ukraine conflict is resolved.

Russia and Ukraine together account for about 29 per cent of global wheat exports, as well as 19 per cent of corn exports.

Since Russia launched the campaign it calls a  "special military operation" on February 24, commodity markets have surged.

The wheat market rose over 40 per cent last week, its biggest weekly rise on record, and on Monday hit its highest since March 2008 at $12.60-1/4 a bushel. Chicago Board of Trade most-active wheat rose 6.6 per cent to $12.53-1/4 a bushel at 0927 GMT.

Corn on Monday rose 2.7 per cent to $7.75-1/4 a bushel, soybeans rose 2.1 per cent to $16.95-1/2 a bushel. Corn and soybeans are around their highest since September 2012.

"Until the fighting in Ukraine ends, it cannot be expected that wheat and corn exports from Ukraine and Russia will resume," one European trader said on condition of anonymity.