Spot basis bids for corn and soyabeans were mostly steady around the interior US Midwest on Thursday, but soya bids rose along rivers, grain dealers said. Farmer selling was slow after a downturn in the futures market lowered cash prices.
"It is hard to get them to sell on a down day," a dealer in northern Ohio said. Most farmers have put recently harvested corn and soyabeans into storage and were unlikely to sell unless cash prices rose sharply in the next few weeks.
Many producers had taken care of their immediate cash flow needs and were content to wait until at least January before booking any new sales of grain.
The US Agriculture Department said on Thursday morning that export sales of soyabeans rose 7 percent to 755,700 tonnes in the latest reporting week, beating market forecasts for 550,000 tonnes to 750,000 tonnes.
Export sales of corn were 1.40 million tonnes. Analysts were expecting corn export sales between 900,000 tonnes and 1.1 million tonnes. Wheat export sales were 329,100 tonnes (old and new crop), in line with trade estimates for 250,000 tonnes to 450,000 tonnes. Barge freight was steady to firm on Midwest rivers on Thursday as dealers sought empty vessels to send grain to the US Gulf.
Bids for barges rose by 5 percentage points to 380 percent of tariff on the Mississippi River at St. Louis. Barges traded in a range from 455 percent of tariff to 460 percent of tariff on the Illinois River, up from 450 percent of tariff Wednesday.
On the lower Ohio River, barges were bid at 375 percent of tariff, in line with Wednesday. At the Chicago Board of Trade, the December corn futures contract closed down 6-3/4 cents at $3.51-1/2 per bushel on profit taking.
December wheat closed down 12-3/4 cents, or 2.7 at $4.68-3/4 per bushel. January soyabeans fell 7-1/4 cents to $6.56-1/2 per bushel, following the declines in wheat and corn.
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