Trading companies that have sold Russian wheat to millers in Asia are considering declaring force majeure on supply contracts that could involve up to 1 million tonnes of wheat.
"If the contract says Russian wheat, it is straight away force majeure," said one trader with an international trading company in Singapore, referring to terms in commodity deals that remove liability for unforeseen events which hinder trade.
"We haven't heard but it will happen, even my company will do it."
Two suppliers scrapped deals to ship 65,000 tonnes of Black Sea wheat to Bangladesh, while in the Philippines a leading importer of feed wheat from the Black Sea, buyers were waiting to hear from suppliers.
"Those with supply contracts are a bit nervous, even the buyer," said a grains trader in Manila.
"The contracts are written with optional origins but it means the sellers will also have to pay through their noses and those noses will bleed really bad."
(Writing by Nigel Hunt in London; additional reporting by Augustine Anthony in Islamabad, Rosemarie Francisco in Manila, Chikako Mogi in Tokyo, Manolo Serapio Jr and Harry Suhartono in Singapore, Himangshu Watts in New Delhi and Fitri Wulandri in Jakarta; editing by Keiron Henderson)
