FOB Gulf corn steady, soyabean firm

US FOB Gulf corn basis offers were mostly steady on Friday, while soyabeans were firm on fresh export demand and slow farmer selling, traders said.
Barge freight was steady amid continued brisk demand from shippers moving grain to export elevators on the Gulf coast.
Freight for next week on the Lower Ohio River was offered at 455 percent of tariff, unchanged from Thursday. On the Illinois River, freight was offered steady at 450 percent.
Traders were expecting barge freight to remain at current high levels through the end of the year amid bumper crops of corn and soyabeans and high costs of fuel.
Corn basis offers were mostly steady, with traders saying that many grain companies were not offering corn for October shipment because they had run out of loading capacity.
"Most elevators don't have any capacity left for October," said a trader, who was not offering any October corn.
Export elevators at the Gulf coast have the capacity to load only a certain number of vessels a month. When capacity is fully booked, sales would be shifted to the next month.
Traders said soyabean basis values were mostly firm, with China continuing to show interest in US supplies.
A trader said China, the world's top soyabean importer, was looking to buy supplies for November-December shipment, having bought enough for shipments in October.
Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) set a tender to buy 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes of wheat for November 5 to 20 shipment. Results are due on Saturday.
GASC sought offers from the United States, France, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Russia and Syria. At its tender late last month, GASC bought 540,000 tonnes of wheat for October shipment, including 120,000 tonnes of US soft white wheat.
Traders said HRW wheat basis offers were supported by a lack of farmer selling, and tight supplies at export elevators and barges were mostly shipping corn and soyabeans.
A trader said GASC was expected to buy hard or soft red wheat, and that the agency was unlikely to buy wheat.