GRAINS-U.S. wheat futures rise on Ukraine war concerns; corn sags

(Updates with closing prices, market analyst's quote)

By Mark Weinraub

CHICAGO, Jan 25 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat futures rose onWednesday on concerns that any intensification of Russia's waron Ukraine could clog the export pipeline from those two majorexporters.

"I think the market is trying to price in an increasinglikelihood that an escalation ... turns into a European theatrewar," said Mike Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics."And rightfully so. We haven't written these chapters of thebook yet."

Soybean futures also were strong, closing near sessionhighs on a round of short-covering and bargain buying after fivestraight losing sessions.

But corn futures were weak, giving up early gains, asrains in Argentina bolstered crop prospects there.

"With the weather improving in South America, it will behard for these recovery rallies to go very far," TommPfitzenmaier, analyst for Summit Commodity Brokerage, said in anote.

"It appears that the drought has been broken in the dryareas and now the trade will have to try to figure out how muchdamage was done and how much the crop can recover with thechange in weather."

Chicago Board of Trade March soft red winter wheatfutures settled up 6-3/4 cents at $7.41-1/4 a bushel.

Soaring global prices lent strength to the U.S. market,which extended its recovery from the 16-month low hit on Monday.

India will provide 3 million tonnes of wheat to bulkconsumers such as flour millers, as part of attempts to bringdown prices, a government official said. Prices for India'swheat jumped to a record high on Wednesday as farmers andtraders have run out of stocks.

CBOT March soybean futures ended up 14 cents at$15.02-1/4 a bushel while corn for March delivery dropped2-1/4 cents to $6.74-3/4 a bushel.(Reporting by Mark Weinraub; Additional reporting byChristopher Walljasper in Chicago, Gus Trompiz in Paris andNaveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Sharon Singleton,Kirsten Donovan and Grant McCool)

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