First-of-Its-Kind Platts Milling Wheat Marker Released by S&P Global Commodity Insights

Rhea-AI Summary

S&P Global Commodity Insights has launched the Platts Milling Wheat Marker, a pioneering daily spot market price assessment for Black Sea region milling wheat trade. The marker provides a comprehensive price assessment incorporating wheat from key Black Sea ports and uses Platts' Market-on-Close methodology to assess 12.5% protein milling wheat shipped on handysize vessels. The Black Sea region dominates global wheat exports, accounting for 38% of global wheat exports in 2023-2024, with Russia (54.7M tons), Ukraine (18.6M tons), and Romania/Bulgaria (10.5M tons) being major contributors. The marker combines data from three wheat assessments: FOB Russia, FOB Ukraine, and FOB Constanta-Varna-Burgas, with quality normalization applied to ensure consistent comparison.

Positive

• First-of-its-kind daily spot market price assessment enhancing transparency in Black Sea wheat trading
• Addresses market need for a comprehensive reference point combining multiple supply routes
• Leverages Black Sea region's dominant position in global wheat exports (38% market share)
• Built on established Platts Market-on-Close methodology, ensuring robust price assessment

Negative

• None.

Insights

Commodities Market Analyst

S&P Global launches strategic Black Sea wheat price benchmark, strengthening its position in agricultural commodities data.

S&P Global Commodity Insights has introduced a significant new product with its Platts Milling Wheat Marker, representing the first daily spot market price assessment specifically designed for Black Sea wheat trading. This strategic move targets the world's most important wheat export region, which accounts for 38% of global wheat exports.

The timing is particularly astute as the Black Sea region has grown increasingly vital to global food security, with Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Bulgaria collectively exporting 83.8 million metric tons in the 2023-2024 marketing year. This new price assessment addresses a critical market need by creating a unified benchmark across multiple supply routes, allowing buyers to navigate potential disruptions in specific export channels.

For S&P Global, this product enhances their agricultural commodities data portfolio with a potentially high-value offering. The marker leverages their existing methodologies (Market-on-Close) and normalizes for quality differences, creating a sophisticated price assessment tool that should appeal to traders, food companies, and agricultural market participants who require reliable pricing data from this complex region.

What makes this product particularly valuable is its integration of data from three existing wheat assessments (Russia, Ukraine, Romania/Bulgaria) into a single benchmark. This positions S&P Global to capture additional market share in agricultural commodities intelligence at a time when food security concerns and supply chain resilience remain top priorities for global markets.

The Marker provides a comprehensive price assessment that includes wheat from all the key Black Sea ports and reflects typical buying practice in the most important export region.

LONDON, June 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, the leading independent provider of information, data, analysis, benchmark prices and workflow solutions for the commodities and energy markets, today launched the Platts Milling Wheat Marker, the first daily spot market price assessment of its kind designed to deliver a transparent and robust benchmark for milling wheat trade in the Black Sea region. The aim of the price assessment is to address the market's need for a key reference point for assessing and planning purchases based on the diversity of available supply routes.

"Through the Milling Wheat Marker, we are providing a common reference point to reflect the price of wheat available from the world's most important export region," said Piero Carello, Head of Agriculture and Food Pricing at S&P Global Commodity Insights. "This market-first assessment enhances transparency and better facilitates decision making, especially in market environments where buyers may need to pivot to alternative supply sources in response to disruptions on specific routes."

The Platts Milling Wheat Marker is underpinned by the Platts Market-on-Close price assessment methodology and reflects the end-of-day value, as determined by buyers and sellers in the open markets, for 12.5% protein milling wheat shipped on handysize vessels.

The Black Sea region plays a crucial role in the global wheat market, accounting for 38% of global wheat exports during the marketing year 2023-2024 (July-June), according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data. The region's four largest exporters shipped a total of 83.8 million metric tons of wheat, with Russia contributing 54.7 million metric tons, Ukraine 18.6 million metric tons, and Romania and Bulgaria 10.5 million metric tons. This area is a key supplier to major global wheat buyers, particularly in the Middle East and Africa, where domestic supply falls short of demand.

The Platts Milling Wheat Marker is determined using the most competitive values from Platts' three relevant wheat assessments: Free on Board (FOB) Russia for 12.5% protein wheat, FOB Ukraine for 11.5% protein wheat, and FOB Constanta-Varna-Burgas for 12.5% protein wheat. The Constanta-Varna-Burgas assessment includes the shipping ports of Constanta in Romania and Varna and Burgas in Bulgaria, crucial for the EU's agricultural exports from the Black Sea. A quality normalization is applied to the Ukraine 11.5% assessment to account for its lower protein content, ensuring that the marker reflects like-for-like market dynamics.

As a leading price reporting agency, Platts serves as a key source of benchmark price assessments in the physical commodity markets. Since 2014, Platts has been evaluating Black Sea grains, and these price assessments are frequently recognized in the market as an important reference.

The Platts Milling Wheat Marker daily assessments and monthly averages will be published on Europe Grain Assessments (PAA1440) and Europe Grain Monthly Averages (PAA1612), available in Platts Daily Grains and on Platts Connect. Additional calculations, including Ukraine's monthly average difference and daily normalization assessments, can also be accessed on Platts Connect.

The subscriber note can be accessed here. For more information, access the Platts Global Grains and Oilseeds Specifications Guide.

Media Contacts
Global/EMEA: Paul Sandell, + 44 (0)7816 180039, paul.sandell@spglobal.com
Americas: Kathleen Tanzy, +1 917-331-4607, kathleen.tanzy@spglobal.com
Asia/EMEA: Melissa Tan, +65-6597-6241, melissa.tan@spglobal.com

About S&P Global Commodity Insights
At S&P Global Commodity Insights, our complete view of global energy and commodities markets enables our customers to make decisions with conviction and create long-term, sustainable value.

We're a trusted connector that brings together thought leaders, market participants, governments, and regulators and we create solutions that lead to progress. Vital to navigating commodity markets, our coverage includes oil and gas, power, chemicals, metals, agriculture, shipping and energy transition. Platts® products and services, including the most significant benchmark price assessments in the physical commodity markets, are offered through S&P Global Commodity Insights.

S&P Global Commodity Insights is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI). S&P Global is the world's foremost provider of credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity and automotive markets. With every one of our offerings, we help many of the world's leading organizations navigate the economic landscape so they can plan for tomorrow, today. For more information visit https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights.

 

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SOURCE S&P Global Commodity Insights

FAQ

What is the new Platts Milling Wheat Marker launched by S&P Global (SPGI)?

The Platts Milling Wheat Marker is a first-of-its-kind daily spot market price assessment that provides a comprehensive benchmark for milling wheat trade in the Black Sea region, combining prices from key ports and reflecting typical buying practices.

How does the Platts Milling Wheat Marker determine wheat prices?

The marker uses Platts' Market-on-Close methodology, combining three assessments: FOB Russia (12.5% protein), FOB Ukraine (11.5% protein), and FOB Constanta-Varna-Burgas (12.5% protein), with quality normalization applied.

What is the Black Sea region's share of global wheat exports according to S&P Global?

The Black Sea region accounts for 38% of global wheat exports in 2023-2024, with Russia exporting 54.7M tons, Ukraine 18.6M tons, and Romania/Bulgaria 10.5M tons.

Where can traders access the new S&P Global Platts Milling Wheat Marker data?

The marker's daily assessments and monthly averages are available on Europe Grain Assessments (PAA1440), Europe Grain Monthly Averages (PAA1612), Platts Daily Grains, and Platts Connect.

Why did S&P Global launch the Platts Milling Wheat Marker?

The marker was launched to provide a common reference point for wheat prices from the world's most important export region and help buyers make decisions when facing supply route disruptions.