Black Sea attacks push Romanian, Bulgarian wheat to three-year high

As the effects of Black Sea tensions spread beyond Russian and Ukrainian ports, wheat prices at major ports in Romania and Bulgaria are at their highest in more than three years. On Wednesday, wheat in the region was quoted at about $282.50 per tonne on a free-on-board basis; last week it briefly rose to $292.50 per tonne, the highest since March 2023. Since early July, when Russia and Ukraine began attacking each other's Black Sea ports and shipping infrastructure and the conflict escalated, wheat prices have surged by about 20 percent cumulatively. The ports of Constanta, Varna and Burgas have become key supply routes to grain-importing countries in Asia and the Middle East, with buyers scrambling to find alternative sources of supply. Vanya Bevska, founder of Bulgarian commodity consultancy Business Kitchen, said: "The core driver is that after Russian and Ukrainian ports were disrupted, buyers rushed to lock in wheat supplies from other Black Sea countries, driving prices sharply higher."