Chicago wheat futures fell to $5.85 a bushel, down 4% this week, as Ukrainian grain shipments through the Black Sea corridor reached a post-war high of 4.2 million tonnes in June.

Insurance costs for vessels transiting the corridor have dropped to their lowest since 2022, encouraging more charterers to route through Odesa-area ports. Turkish and Romanian terminals report record transshipment volumes as buyers rebuild depleted inventories.

Egypt’s state grain buyer GASC booked two cargoes of Ukrainian wheat this week at the lowest price since 2021, while Algeria and Bangladesh have also shifted purchases away from more expensive French and Russian origins.

Analysts caution that the rally in exports depends on the corridor’s security holding through the northern hemisphere harvest, with any escalation risking a sharp reversal in freight and insurance costs.