Corn futures climbed past 8 a bushel on Monday, with concerns over the loss of exports from Ukraine and lower 2022 U.S. planting intensions lifting prices to their highest levels September 2012.

The market is dealing with diminished supplies due to the war in Ukraine and the planting intentions of U.S. farmers for the coming growing season, said Jack Scoville, market analyst at The Price Futures Group. The potential loss of Ukraine exports of corn makes the world situation tighter and could be enough to keep corn prices trending higher for now.

The ports remain closed and Ukraine can rail out to the European Union in limited amounts, he said.

In Monday dealings, corn for July delivery, the mostactive contract, rose 24 cents, or 3.1, to trade at 8.07 34 a bushel in Chicago. A settlement around that level would be the highest since early September 2012, according to FactSet data.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported earlier this month that for a second month in a row, Ukrainian corn exports are sharply reduced. Since the beginning of the invasion, it said its projections for Ukrainian corn exports have dropped by about 30.

The main foreign market for Ukrainian corn in recent years has been China, and it is unlikely that other corn suppliers can fully replace the drop in Ukraines exports to the country, the USDA said. Chinese corn imports are thereby projected down.

The USDA also lowered its domestic corn planted area estimate to 89.5 million acres, down 4…