FOB Gulf corn weaker, soyabean steady

US FOB Gulf corn basis offers were weaker on Friday ahead of an expected advance in the harvest over the weekend, while soyabeans were steady.
Hard and soft red winter wheat basis offers were steady, underpinned by fresh sales to Egypt.
Corn basis values were weaker ahead of an expected push in the harvest, especially in the southern areas of Indiana and Illinois and in Kentucky. Prices in the CIF market were also lower amid signals of increased movement,
"There were a lot of barge applications for corn today," a trader said, referring to shippers booking barges to transport corn to the Gulf of Mexico.
CIF September corn bids were down 2 cents a bushel on the day, while offers eased 1/2 cent. October bids were down 1 cent, while offers fell 1-1/2 cents, traders said.
FOB wheat basis offers were mostly steady, with Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) buying 295,000 tonnes of wheat from the United States, Argentina and France.
The state-run agency bought 60,000 tonnes of US soft white wheat at $146.76 per tonne FOB and 55,000 tonnes of US hard red winter wheat at $160.91 per tonne.
GASC also bought 60,000 tonnes of wheat from Argentine at $131.67 per tonne FOB and 120,000 tonnes of French milling wheat at $139.00 to $139.49 per tonne. US traders said Russian wheat was offered at $134 per tonne.
The traders said there was talk that a US exporter had sold Iraq up to 500,000 tonnes of hard milling quality wheat, but it could not be independently confirmed.
A trader said that if true, the exporter was likely to supply Iraq with wheat from Germany or the Black Sea region, which was cheaper than supplies from the United States.
Meanwhile, Australia's monopoly wheat exporter AWB Ltd said it had not signed a deal to sell 800,000 tonnes of wheat to Iraq. A wire service on Thursday reported from Baghdad that Iraq had bought 800,000 tonnes of wheat from Australia.
Another trader speculated that Iraq could be entering into long-term contracts to buy large amounts of wheat from suppliers in Australia and the United States.