US FOB Gulf corn and soyabean basis offers were steady on Monday in a quiet market focused on spring planting and crop conditions, traders said.
Hard and soft red winter wheat export premiums were unchanged, although prices were hard to determine due to the slow pace of export sales, traders said.
USDA announced that 39 percent of the US winter wheat crop was in good to excellent condition, unchanged from last week. At this time last year, 68 percent of the crop was in good to excellent condition.
The overall condition of US winter wheat was steady, but the hard red winter wheat crop in the Plains was still taking a beating.
USDA said 30 percent of HRW wheat in top-producer Kansas was in good to excellent condition, down from 38 percent in the prior week. Conditions were mostly unchanged in Oklahoma and Texas, with each state having about 5 percent of its HRW wheat in good to excellent condition.
Spring wheat planting is still progressing slowly due to wet weather last week. USDA said farmers have planted 20 percent of the spring wheat, compared with 10 percent in the prior week and the five-year average of 27 percent.
Corn export premiums held steady, supported by brisk export demand. Some traders were rolling basis offers to CBOT July, ahead of first notice day for deliveries on the May contract.
USDA announced Monday afternoon that farmers had planted 25 percent of this year's corn crop, compared with 9 percent in the prior week and the five-year average of 22 percent.
"It was higher than I expected but I guess they made some good progress over the weekend," said a corn trader. Soyabean export premiums were also unchanged amid weak export demand due to stiff competition from South America, traders said.
Country movement of soyabeans remains slow but has increased slightly.
During the weekend, about 10 barges a day passed through the lock at St. Louis on the Mississippi River, compared with about five barges a day last week, according to data from the US Army Corps of Engineers.