US FOB Gulf corn and soyabean basis offers were mostly steady on Wednesday, with traders expecting a pick up in export demand amid a drop in prices. Barge freight spot bids were steady at St. Louis, higher on the Illinois River and lower on the lower Ohio River.
Traders said some barge lines were making changes to their routes that could possibly affect liquidity in the freight market. The traders said changes were also being made to fleeting rates that could raise demurrage charges.
Basis offers for hard and soft red winter wheat were steady, with traders hoping to win a slice of the tender set by Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities.
GASC said it was seeking wheat from several origins, including the United States, France, Australia and Canada. It was seeking supplies for August 21-31 shipment.
Soybean basis offers were steady, but export demand remained slow amid cheaper South American supplies.
Traders who had expected to win a tender from Taiwan were disappointed when the buyer passed, citing high prices. Taiwan had sought up to 60,000 tonnes of US or Brazilian soya.
The traders said soya basis values were weighed by increased supplies from the Southern harvest entering the pipeline. They said values from at Pacific Northwest export points were getting competitive with values in Brazil. Corn basis offers were steady, with traders expecting a drop in CBOT futures to draw business.
A consortium of private Israeli buyers were in the market to buy 48,000 tonnes of corn and 7,000 tonnes of soyameal from the United States or South America, traders said.