US FOB Gulf corn and soyabean basis offers held mostly steady on Wednesday amid fewer ocean vessels available to transport grain, traders said. Panamax-size vessels, which can hold 55,000 to 80,000 tonnes, were harder to secure due to a combination of rising freight rates and a slowdown of in-bound cargoes, freight brokers said.
As a result of slower grain loadings at the Gulf, corn export premiums for July shipment dipped a penny a bushel, traders said. "There are few available vessels nearby in the Gulf so it slows down the loading and there's no need for spot corn," said a corn trader.
Export demand remains strong and rumours surfaced that a company in China may have bought a second Panamax cargo of US corn. Traders treated the news with skepticism because Beijing has not given companies a green light to import US corn in large quantities.
"Right now the domestic price in China makes it only slightly advantageous to import and there's a lot of risk," said a corn broker, referring to the possibility that China might not allow the shipment to be unloaded or processed. Soyabean values were steady in a stagnant market that lacked activity due to most export business going to South America.
Soft and hard red winter wheat values were also unchanged but retained a firm tone due to the small amount of wheat headed to the Gulf. Traders reported that SRW wheat test weights were dropping and vomitoxin levels were rising in eastern US states such as Ohio due to heavy rains.
In exports, India bought 2.2 million tonnes of wheat from five international companies for between $196 and $205 per tonne, cost and freight. Origin and type of wheat were not specified, but a senior government official named the companies and amounts purchased.
Traders said the 300,000 tonnes sold by Archer Daniels Midland Co was Canadian soft red wheat. The other origins will most likely to be French or Black Sea wheat, traders said.
India also paved the way for the private sector to import wheat by cutting duties to 5 percent from the current 50 percent. However, US traders expect Indian millers to wait until the wheat recently bought by the government arrives before importing any additional supplies.