US FOB Gulf corn and wheat basis offers were mostly steady on Monday with the sell-off in futures for a second straight day doing the work to try to entice more interest from importers, traders said.
Fund profit-taking in futures pushed nearby CBOT soyabeans down 21-22 cents on Monday, nearby CBOT corn contracts down 8 cents and nearby SRW and HRW wheat futures down 7 cents.
SRW wheat FOB offers were quoted a penny softer for old crop, with lack of interest from Egypt on the futures break dampening sentiment. "We're seeing good crop ratings and you're getting closer to harvest in the South," said on SRW trader.
But HRW wheat offers stayed steady, if nominal, with tight old-crop stocks the keynote ahead of the Commodity Credit Corp's April 15 tender to buy 56,000 tonnes of HRW wheat for donation to Ethiopia. Shipment in two cargoes was set for May 1-10 and May 21-31.
HRW traders noted that track values firmed on Monday morning for the Gulf but backed off after the close when country selling increased. CCC bought 9,900 tonnes or ordinary protein HRW wheat for Sudan shipment April 26-May 7 on Friday night from Cargill at $176.25 per tonne, FOB Houston.
USDA wheat export inspections on Monday disappointed at 18.5 million bushels, at the low end of estimates for 18.0-25.0 million. China did not load more wheat out last week.
Iraq tenders April 14 to buy 200,000 tonnes of hard milling quality wheat for shipment in July and August. But there have been complaints from US exporters over payment terms.
The country has said payments will be made to successful companies within 10 days of the wheat arriving in Iraq - unlike the industry norm of payment upon loading the vessel.
"Good luck to them on that one," said one wheat trader.
FOB corn and soyabeans remained steady in the face of the futures fall, with the recent gains in the dollar adding some caution of importers. But corn sales continue to be strong.
USDA corn export inspections on Monday came in at 45.739 million bushels, above trade estimates for 30-45 million. South Korea shipped another 7.675 million bushels last week.
Seoul traders on Friday said feed-makers had bought another 210,000 tonnes of optional origin corn; much is expected to come from the United States due to China's supplies drying up this season.
USDA on Friday also said exporters had sold 120,000 tonnes of US corn to an unknown destination, 111,760 tonnes of corn were sold to Japan and 110,000 tonnes of corn were sold to Turkey after Thursday's futures sell-off.
US corn shipments are running 27 percent ahead of last season's pace.
Tight US domestic soyabean stocks and Brazil's shrinking crop continued to underpin US basis values. But USDA inspections of soya last week were 7.5 million bushels with nil to China. Brazil's soya harvest has also progressed to about 3/4 complete, adding to pipeline supplies at ports there.