US FOB Gulf corn and soyabean basis offers were mostly steady on Thursday, with little fresh export demand seen in both markets, dealers said.
Soft red winter wheat basis offers were mostly steady despite disappointment that Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) bought 120,000 tonnes of French soft wheat, which was offered at $139.83 to $140.84 per tonne FOB.
SRW wheat prices in the CIF barge market however remained firm amid concerns over quality, with test weights in some parts of the Midwest dropping below average due to rains.
Dealers said US SRW wheat was not competitively priced in the GASC tender due to quality concerns among exporters.
"Shippers have to protect themselves from higher prices they might have to pay for quality wheat if they did win the tender," one dealer said.
He said vomitoxin, a potentially harmful residue of a fungal disease, was a major concern.
Importers usually require wheat to contain no more than 2 parts per million of vomitoxin. If the toxic residue spreads, the price of wheat with 2 ppm of vomitoxin will soar.
Another dealer said exporters could have added up to 10 cents a bushel on their offers to GASC to protect themselves against any surge in the price of quality wheat.
Dealers also expected stiff competition through the year from French exporters keen on regaining their share of the global wheat business lost to the United States and other suppliers due to a poor crop last year.
Corn basis offers were steady, with weekly export sales showing sluggish demand.
USDA said export sales of old crop corn last week totalled just 159,600 tonnes, down 73 percent from the previous week. South Korea bought 107,700 tonnes, of which 57,700 tonnes were switched from unknown destinations.
Top importer Japan bought 26,700 tonnes of old crop corn, and switched another 65,500 tonnes of old crop supplies it had booked to the 2004/05 marketing season beginning September 1.
"I think Japan is almost done with its old crop purchases," one dealer said.
Soybean basis offers were mostly steady, as the market remained supported by light export interest and domestic processor demand.
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