US FOB Gulf soyabean basis offers retreated on Monday amid a rally in futures prices and weak export demand, while corn and wheat held steady, traders said.
CBOT corn, soyabean and wheat futures all rallied on Monday due to concerns about hotter and drier weather hitting the Midwest and northern Plains late this week and stressing crops. However, the rally failed to spark much farmer selling. Soyabean export premiums retreated on Monday after rising sharply on both Thursday and Friday.
Export demand is limited due to competition from South America. Higher ocean freight rates were also cooling purchases, traders said.
Hard and soft red winter wheat export premiums were unchanged from Friday, with no word on a possible wheat tender from Iraq. Iraq has not purchased wheat in several months, despite having issued a tender in May and then a retender in early June.
Exports were quiet with more demand for hard red winter wheat than soft red winter wheat, traders said.
Jordan's state grains agency has purchased a second consignment of 100,000 tonnes of Syrian milling wheat in a deal agreed earlier this year for up to 300,000 tonnes.
Corn export premiums held steady, supported by brisk export demand and higher barge freight. China's state think tank said the country's 2006 corn output was likely to rise 1.9 percent to a record 142.0 million tonnes. A large domestic crop could postpone the need to import large amounts of US corn.
The Korea Corn Processing Industry Association has bought up to 110,000 tonnes of non-GMO, optional-origin corn from Louis Dreyfus Corp for November arrival, said traders in Asia. Taiwan Sugar Corp will tender on Thursday to buy 23,000 tonnes of US corn and 12,000 tonnes of US soyabeans for July/August shipment.