US FOB Gulf corn basis offers were mostly steady on Tuesday and soyabeans were firm, with slow farmer sellling supporting both markets. Barge freight bids for this week shipment were steady to higher on the Illinois, Ohio and Mississippi rivers as low river water levels kept supplies of empty vessels tight.
Hard red winter wheat prices were higher amid active export demand, and confirmation that Iraq bought 200,000 tonnes of HRW wheat from the United States.
The higher prices however are expected to be a hurdle in a tender by Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities to buy 25,000 to 60,000 tonnes of wheat for September 16-30 shipment.
GASC sought offers from the United States, France, UK, Canada, Australia and Russia.
"US wheat is expensive," a trader said.
Another trader said US soft red winter wheat was priced higher than comparable French soft milling wheat, while Russian offers were expected to be among the lowest in the tender.
Corn basis offers were steady, but values in the CIF barge market were lower for August-September positions as demand from exporters waned. "People have covered what they needed and there's a bit more grain available up front," a trader said.
Traders said last-half August CIF corn traded at 39 cents a bushel premium the CBOT September, and was bid at 38 over.
"Export business this week has not been as good as last week," a trader said. "Ocean freight has begun to move up, and that is reducing some of the demand," he added.
Soyabean basis offers were steady to higher, supported by slow farmer selling but the market lacked export demand.
Traders said US export prices were competitive with Brazil and Argentina, but buyers were scare.
"We are becoming competitive," a trader said, adding that prices at the Pacific Northwest were now the cheapest among the US Gulf, Brazil and Argentina.