US FOB Gulf corn and soyabean basis offers were mostly steady on Wednesday, with export demand for both remaining thin, dealers said.
Soybean basis values in the CIF barge market, which feeds exporters at the Gulf, bounced back after falling sharply in June/July positions, buoyed by processor demand.
Dealers said there was a two-tier pricing pattern in the CIF market due to differing bids from processors actively seeking beans and exporters faced with thin export interest.
CIF June exporter bids were quoted at 63 cents a bushel premium the CBOT July, up 3 cents from midday. Processor bids were quoted by dealers at 70 cents over.
"There are separate bids for beans going to the Gulf and to processors," one dealer said, adding that brisk processor demand was also keeping interior basis values firm.
"There are only a few barge lines that can ship beans to processors on the Ohio and Tennessee (rivers)," he added.
Another dealer said processor demand was also pushing up prices in other cash markets. Chicago bids were around $1.15 a bushel premium the CBOT August, up from $1.05 on Wednesday.
A third dealer said the early weakness in CIF basis values was due to a pickup in farmer selling.
FOB corn basis offers were steady, with dealers saying that there was a slowdown in export demand.
CIF corn basis values were steady to lower amid a lack of fresh exporter demand. CIF June corn traded at 26 cents a bushel premium the CBOT July, and July at 28-1/2 cents over.
"We are continuing to see demand favouring South America," one dealer said, referring to lower basis values on a FOB basis in Argentina and Brazil.
Another dealer said there were concerns that corn exports would not be able to hit USDA's projections, causing sellers to lower their prices in a bid to push out supplies.
Wheat basis offers were under harvest pressure as combining of hard and soft red winter wheat expanded.
Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities bought 60,000 tonnes of US soft red winter wheat at $140.35 per tonne FOB for July 21-31 shipment.
French soft wheat, which won last week's GASC tender, was priced at $146.88 per tonne. Australian soft white wheat was quoted at $157.00 per tonne, and its hard wheat at $159.10.
In a sign of competition to come, French and/or US SRW wheat was offered at $139.75/tonne for Aug. 1-10 shipment, when new crop supplies in both countries become abundant.
"French new-crop wheat is going to be very competitive in future GASC tenders," one dealer said.