US FOB Gulf corn basis offers were firm on Monday amid steady export demand, while soyabeans were steady but lacked fresh interest, dealers said.
Wheat basis offers were mostly steady, but sentiment was dampened by Egypt's General Authority For Supply Commodities (GASC) choosing to buy 120,000 tonnes of Australian hard wheat for June 1-20 shipment over higher-priced US supplies.
GASC paid $162.90 per tonne FOB. Dealers said the best offer for US hard red winter wheat was $164.73/tonne.
US soft red winter wheat was offered at $155.76, while white wheat was priced at $166.14, the dealers said, adding that French soft wheat was offered at $192.00/tonne.
The dealers said there were no offers from Canada and Argentina, which were invited by GASC to take part.
Dealers were surprised by the high-priced offer from France, Europe's top wheat exporter whose production is expected to bounce back after last year's severe drought.
"I'm not sure why they would want to put in an offer that's $37 higher than (US) soft red," one dealer said.
There was also growing talk that Iraq's tender to buy 200,000 tonnes of hard milling quality wheat that closed on April 14 was likely cancelled. "As far as I am concerned, the tender is cancelled," one dealer said.
Iraq has yet to announce results. Some US exporters said they did not take part because of onerous shipment and payment conditions. Some believe only Australia submitted offers.
China meanwhile last week shipped out 198,882 tonnes of old-crop US wheat. The country still has about 742,000 tonnes it has to ship out by the season's end on May 31.
There have been concerns that China could roll over some its old-crop purchases into the 2004/05 season.
Export demand for corn continued at a steady clip, with two Taiwanese companies setting tenders for Tuesday to buy up to 77,000 tonnes of US corn. One of the two companies was seeking an additional 14,000 tonnes of US soyabeans.
Traders in Asia said on Monday that another Taiwanese company bought 57,000 tonnes of US corn last week.
Recent sharp declines in CBOT corn futures coupled with gains in Argentine prices have boosted the competitive edge of corn from the United States in export markets, dealers said.
Dealers said soyabean basis offers were steady, but there was a lack of fresh export demand.
Interest from domestic crushers however was picking up. "Demand from processors has reawakened," one dealer said, adding that soyabean basis values in the interior cash markets were firming up amid the fresh demand.
Other dealers said processors were bidding 5 to 6 cents a bushel higher than exporters at the Gulf for supplies.