"Ukraine turmoil hasn't finished with agriculture markets"

We aren't going to get our $5.00 corn out of this run, 480'6 last, down 3'4 on the May's.
So close.
From Agrimoney:

Is that it for the Ukraine crisis?

There is hope of containment, at least, with talks between Moscow and Washington over Russia's deployment of troops to Crimea in southern Ukraine.

But that does not mean that the turmoil should be forgotten by agricultural investors, producers and policy makers, even if negotiation can put a lid on the Crimea pressure cooker.

Hryvnia's hard time

After all, Ukraine represented a worry to markets before any balaclava-wearing pro-Russia militia were seen around Balaclava, as protests forced Viktor Yanukovych, the country's president, to flee.

While fears that instability would interrupt logistics and exports have not, so far been fulfilled, with Ukraine's main grain ports such as Odessa a distance from Crimea, that is not the only threat to crop supplies.

Ukraine's farmers, like peers in Argentina, may decide to withhold sales of crops, denominated in dollars, if the local currency, the hryvnia, takes a new lurch lower.

Even if it doesn't, the currency's fall of some 18% this year means farmers already face paying more, in hryvnia terms, for imported needs such as many fertilizers and agrichemicals, which looks like curtailing harvest prospects this year.

Russian trade

Farmers may have to do so with minimal state support too. Although the European Union on Wednesday backed an E11bn aid package to Ukraine, much of that is tied to longer-term programmes, and there are many calls beyond farming on what cash is available immediately.

And all this is before bringing Russia into the equation, and considering what a weakened rouble means for a country already renowned for its keen rivalry in grain export markets.

Russia's dominance in last week's wheat order by Egypt's Gasc authority underlined the even sharper edge to its competitiveness honed by a soft rouble....MORE