Spot corn basis bids were mostly steady to weak around the interior US Midwest on Friday, while interior soyabean basis was generally steady amid a pickup in farmer selling this week, grain merchants said. Basis bids for corn at Midwest river elevators was narrowly mixed, while soya bids were steady to up slightly, river dealers said.
Grain dealers reported some moderate farmer selling of both commodities early on Friday, most of it corn. Farmer selling was also moderately active late on Thursday. A rally in futures prices at midday on Thursday spurred farmer selling interest, and that carried through to Friday morning. But as futures struggled to hold their gains at midmorning on Friday, farmers stopped selling. Many producers continue to aim for cash corn prices of $4 a bushel or more and soya prices of $9 or more, but cash values have largely remained below those levels.
Chicago Board of Trade corn futures were up slightly on Friday, underpinned by a low acreage forecast by analytical firm Informa Economics. CBOT soya suffered as Informas acreage forecast showed the biggest soya plantings on record.
Traders said Informa pegged 2009 US corn seedings at 81.419 million acres and soya seedings at 81.502 million. That was compared with 86 million corn acres in 2008 and 75.7 million soyabean acres, based on USDA data. Brokerage Allendale Inc also issued its acreage forecast on Friday, putting corn acres at 85.406 million and soya acres at a record 80.439 million.
Heavy rain throughout the US Midwest agricultural belt this week caused some localised flooding as farmers begin their spring planting preparations, but few were worried about prolonged field work delays. CBOT May soyabeans ended down 5-1/2 cents on Friday at $8.76-1/2 a bushel. CBOT May corn settled 3-1/4 cents higher at $3.88-1/2 a bushel.
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