Corn premiums climbed to an 11-month high for shipments out of the US Gulf Coast on Wednesday, lifted by freezing Midwest rivers that prevented some barge shipments from reaching port, traders said. Bitter-cold temperatures that have gripped much of the central and eastern United States for more than a week resulted in freezing waters on much of the Illinois River and parts of the lower Ohio and Mississippi river.
Basis bids for barges of both corn and soyabeans have increased because of the weather while basis offers for ocean vessels climbed in sympathy. Limited global offerings of corn in Argentina were likely to push demand to the United States, further underpinning US export prices. Many importers have bought hand-to-mouth in the hopes of more plentiful offerings and the buyers will have to purchase soon to ensure arrival during the next few months.
"There's a lot of open demand for February," a US corn export trader said, adding that countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt could turn to US corn due to scant Argentine offers. Bids for corn barges loaded this month were up 1 cent to 46 cents above Chicago Board of Trade March futures, highest in about 10 months. FOB basis offers for January corn shipments were about 68 cents over futures, up 7 cents.
CIF bids for soyabean barges loaded this month were unchanged from earlier on Wednesday at 43 cents a bushel over CBOT March futures. FOB Gulf offers for January soyabean shipments were 54 cents over CBOT March futures, up 2 cents. Bids for soft red winter wheat barges loaded in January were steady at 55 cents per bushel over CBOT March futures. FOB Gulf export offers for January shipments were 70 cents over futures.
Comments
Comments are closed.