Spot basis bids for corn were mostly steady around the US Midwest on Thursday while soyabean bids were mixed, grain dealers said. Soybean bids fell in Iowa, where farmers did some selling to take advantage of rallies in the futures market that have pushed cash prices more than 20 cents per bushel higher in the past two days.
But bids firmed slightly in areas east of the Mississippi River. Farmers in those locations were still waiting for further price increases. Dealers reported scattered selling on Thursday. Some farmers were booking sales to hedge their bets ahead of the release of the US Agriculture Department's prospective plantings report.
The report, set to be released on Friday morning, is expected to provide a gauge for price trends in the coming months. In export news, USDA said on Thursday morning that export sales of soyabeans were 272,100 tonnes (old crop and new crop combined) in the latest reporting week. Analysts were expecting soyabean export sales between 300,000 tonnes and 400,000 tonnes.
Corn export sales were 1.16 million tonnes (old crop and new crop combined), well above market forecasts for 650,000 tonnes to 800,000 tonnes. Export sales of wheat were 636,500 tonnes (old crop and new crop combined), topping estimates for 450,000 tonnes to 550,000 tonnes.
Barge freight was steady to weaker along Midwest rivers. Bids for barges were at 200 percent of tariff on the lower Ohio River, the same level as on Wednesday. Bids also were unchanged, at 190 percent of tariff, on the Mississippi River at St. Louis.
On the Illinois River, barges traded for 230 percent of tariff, down from 235 percent of tariff on Wednesday. At the Chicago Board of Trade, the May corn futures contract closed up 6 cents, or 1.5 percent, at $3.94-1/2 per bushel on forecasts for wet weather that could delay plantings this spring. CBOT May soyabean futures rose 7-1/2 cents to $7.78-1/4 a bushel, following a rally in crude oil prices. The May wheat futures contract rose 4-1/2 cents to $4.61 a bushel.
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