US FOB Gulf soyabean premiums lower on dull demand

Export premiums for soyabeans shipped from the US Gulf Coast were steady to weak on Thursday on seasonally slowing demand, while corn and wheat premiums held mostly steady, traders said. Egypt's GASC set another tender to buy wheat for March 2-11 after canceling a previous one due to lack of offers. Results are expected on Friday. Traders said they do not expect any US wheat to be offered in the tender.
Brazil's government crop supply agency Conab cut its national soyabean harvest outlook on Thursday to 100.9 million tonnes, still the country's largest ever but down 1.2 million from its previous forecast. The agency blamed disappointing yields in top soya state Mato Grosso. Conab's overall corn forecast rose to 83.3 million tonnes from 82.3 million tonnes in January. The agency said corn exports could total 29 million tonnes.
Soyabean buying by top importer China is expected to slow next week as markets there will be closed all week for Lunar New Year celebrations, traders said. China has been booking soya cargoes mostly from South America, where farmers are beginning to harvest another bumper crop. The USDA on Thursday said old-crop US soyabean export sales were a net negative 43,600 tonnes last week, while new-crop sales totaled 65,700 tonnes. The sales for both marketing years combined were 22,055 tonnes, the lowest for a single week since February 2013, according to USDA data.
US corn export sales last week topped 1 million tonnes for the second time in three weeks amid strong sales to Japan, Mexico and Colombia, the top three markets last season. But sales in the marketing year to date remain 25 percent behind a year ago, USDA data showed. FOB Gulf soyabeans loaded in late February were offered at 75 cents a bushel over CBOT March futures, which closed 2-1/4 cents lower at $8.74-1/2 a bushel. Corn offers for late February shipment were around 68 cents over CBOT March futures, which ended 2-1/2 cents lower at $3.68-1/2 a bushel.
February and March shipments of soft red winter wheat at the Gulf were offered at about 70 cents over CBOT March futures, which closed 7-1/4 cents lower at $4.72-3/4 a bushel. Spot hard red winter wheat offers were about 115 cents over March futures, which closed 7 cents lower at $4.66-3/4 a bushel.