Chicago wheat futures lost more ground on Thursday, May 18, as an extension of the Black Sea Grain Deal to allow for 2 months to continue exporting grains along the Black Sea corridor eased concerns over world’s #1 grain supplies.

The most-active wheat contract of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 slid 1.76% to $6.14-1/4 a bushel, as of noon CET, extending losses for a third session. Corn, CV1, also fell 0.8% to $5.57 a bushel.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday, that Russia agreed to a temporary extension of a deal that has allowed participating nations to ship grain through the Black Sea to parts of the world struggling with hunger, a boost to global food security after the war drove up prices. Ukrainian and Russian officials confirmed the extension of the deal to allow exports from the Black Sea port despite the ongoing war. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olexandr Kubrakov confirmed the grain corridor would remain open until at least July 18.

According to Bloomberg, Wheat futures slumped 4.4% by 4:42 p.m. in London yesterday. Corn, the top commodity shipped under the initiative, declined 3.9%. While an extension keeps the agreement alive for now, dysfunction among the parties has blunted its effectiveness. Ukraine has said Moscow is purposefully slowing the pace of exports, and the shipment corridor through the Black Sea is now nearly empty, with no inbound vessels cleared since early May.

The agreement has enabled the safe shipment of about 30 million tons of crops since it was inked in July 2022. That has helped bring down global food-commodity prices that had spiraled to a record late last year. China and Spain rank among the top destinations for Ukraine grains, while Russia mostly provides such countries as countries of Central Asia, Turkey and Northern Africa.

Meanwhile, earlier this morning in Crimea, the movement of electric trains on the Simferopol-Sevastopol route was suspended because of an overnight incident. According to local news sources, there was an explosion on the railway tracks, which caused the train with grain to derail, and a crater with a diameter of 50 meters was formed at the site of the incident.