Spot basis bids for corn firmed around the US Midwest on Tuesday as grain dealers at processors and elevators tried to boost supplies. River bids for corn strengthened due to demand from domestic feed producers and ethanol plants.
Soyabean bids rose in areas east of the Mississippi River as processors sought beans to keep up their crushing pace. In the western part of the region, dealers eased their bids because they had enough supplies on hand following sales last week.
Grain dealers in Iowa reported light sales of soyabeans on Tuesday as some farmers took advantage of a futures market rally to clean out storage bins to make room for this year's crop. But country movement was generally light. Most farmers were not willing to commit to selling any of this year's crop at current levels.
Wheat bids were steady to firm, rising by as much as 3 cents per bushel in northern Ohio. Shipping costs fell on Midwest rivers. The slow country movement has left an ample supply of empty vessels available for shipping grain. On the Mississippi River at St. Louis, barges were bid at 190 percent of tariff, down 10 percentage points from Monday. Bids for barges fell to 185 percent of tariff from 190 percent of tariff on the lower Ohio River.
Barges were bid at 220 percent of tariff on the Illinois River, in line with Monday's level. At the Chicago Board of Trade, the July corn futures contract rose 8-1/4 cents, a gain of 2.3 percent, to close at $3.71-1/2 per bushel on concerns about dry weather damaging this year's crop.
CBOT July soyabean futures rose 7-1/2 cents to $7.78 a bushel on ideas that large seedings of corn could limit soyabean acreage this year. CBOT July wheat futures rose 5-1/2 cents to $5.02 per bushel.