US FOB Gulf soyabean basis offers were unchanged late Thursday as exporters allowed lower futures to attract fresh spot sales while the harvest steps up, traders said. Corn remains steady as the harvest progressed, but wheat futures and cash were soft amid stiff competition from overseas and ample stocks. US wheat futures set new contract lows on Thursday and FOB SRW wheat dropped aggressively.
SRW basis offers for December and January fell 5 cents a bushel as exporters tried to uncover interest in Egypt's next tender after narrowly missing business in this week's GASC tender. Midwest soya processors who have been bidding aggressively to cover needs ahead of the harvest appeared more comfortable on Thursday, with the Decatur, Illinois, bid down 50 cents and Lafayette, Indiana, down 25 cents.
On the other hand, China's massive buying program for US soyabeans shored up FOB values. The USDA said private exporters sold another 110,000 tonnes to China in the last 24 hours, while net export sales for the week ended September 11 were 1.466 million tonnes. Of those, 546,300 tonnes were to China and 469,100 tonnes to unknown destinations. China switched 63,000 tonnes from unknown destinations last week. FOB soyabean offers for October/November were unchanged at 173/163 cents over CBOT November futures, which ended 11 lower up at $9.71-1/2 a bushel.
The corn harvest is picking up, but export sales continue to be slow as foreign buyers, like domestic buyers, try to pick a harvest low for prices. Less than 10 percent of US corn was harvested as of Sunday. Corn export sales for the week ended September 11 were only 659,700 tonnes and shipments 722,400 tonnes, the USDA said. FOB corn for October/November loadings held at 125 cents over CBOT December futures, which closed 3-1/2 cents lower at $3.38-1/4. December/January basis offers were also steady at 110/100 cents over futures.
Wheat values in all markets continued to feel the weight of ample supplies at home and overseas. The USDA said US wheat export sales totalled 314,500 tonnes, down 54 percent from the prior week. Only 89,200 tonnes of HRW wheat were booked and 28,400 tonnes of SRW wheat. Traders said Argentine and European wheat continued to set the pace at this point in the season. China booked 3,500 tonnes of US SRW wheat last week, the USDA said. SRW wheat offers for October/November shipments were steady at 160/180 cents over CBOT December futures, which ended 10-3/4 cents down at $4.88-1/2.
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