US FOB corn and soyabean basis offers were mostly steady on Monday, with more corn supplies entering the pipeline over the weekend, dealers said.
Wheat was steady, with sentiment bolstered by the sale of 100,000 tonnes of SRW wheat to China. The transaction likely took place on Friday, when CBOT wheat futures rose the daily trading limit of 30 cents a bushel before easing at the close.
The sale, announced by the USDA Monday, reinforced hopes that China would buy more US wheat when its trade mission from state trading company COFCO visits the United States.
Beijing has yet to set a date for the visit, but some US dealers believe it could come as early as this month.
China signed agreements last month to buy 1 million tonnes of wheat from Australia and 500,000 tonnes from Canada.
Before COFCO reinstated its US trip that was abruptly cancelled in November due to a trade dispute with Washington, China had been expected to buy about 1 million tonnes of wheat from the United States.
Last week, 105,000 tonnes of hard red spring wheat listed to unspecified buyers was switched to China.
Dealers also said Morocco's purchase of 110,000 tonnes of optional-origin wheat at its tender could likely come from the United States. It was priced at $212.90 per tonne C&F.
One dealer said he expected the wheat to be sourced from the United States, but another said supplies were likely to be supplied by either Argentina or Brazil.
Corn basis offers were steady, with the cold weather across much of the Midwest along with weak CBOT futures shutting down a strong pick up in corn movement.
"There was a lot of corn moving over the weekend," one dealer said. "But it slowed today."
Dealers continued to watch for interest from China, which was reported to have bought two to five US cargoes last week. "Nothing has been confirmed so far," one dealer said.
There was talk of Chinese interest in soyabeans, but dealers were unable to confirm any transactions. "There is some talk, but I haven't seen any purchases," one dealer said.
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