US FOB Gulf corn and soyabean basis offers were firm on Wednesday, after softening earlier in the week, amid higher CIF barge values, traders said. CIF corn and soyabean values jumped on Wednesday amid rising barge freight rates and lower Chicago Board of Trade futures, they said.
Barge freight on Midwest rivers continued to rise on Wednesday, with vessel availability particularly tight on the Mississippi River at St. Louis. CIF corn barges for February shipment traded as high as 38 cents per bushel over the CBOT March contract and barges for March shipment traded as high as 40 cents over, traders said.
Stronger Brazilian soyabean export premiums on Wednesday helped underpin some nearby CIF values for US soyabeans, traders said. Brazilian FOB soyabean values rose by 10 to 15 cents per bushel on Wednesday in the mid-March through May positions.
Soyabean export premiums at the US Gulf for shipment in the last half of February were at 20 cents over, up 5 cents from Tuesday, while premiums for March shipment were up 2 to 3 cents, traders said. Export demand remained strong for corn and wheat despite prices near multiyear or all-time highs due to tight global supplies of both commodities and recent declines in ocean freight.
The Egyptian state's main wheat buying agency said Wednesday it wanted to buy 55,000 to 60,000 tonnes of US, French, Australian, Canadian, German, Argentine and/or Kazakhstan wheat for shipment February 5 to 20. Tenders were due by 12 pm local time (1000 GMT) on Thursday and the results were expected around 4:30 pm (1430 GMT) the same day.
Traders said there was a small chance that GASC would buy US wheat, but the cost may still be too high despite easing ocean freight and the relatively weak US dollar. South Korea's Samyang Milmax Corp has passed on a tender to buy 22,000 tonnes of US No 1 wheat due to a lack of offers.
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