Spot basis bids for corn rose at processors and grain elevators around the US Midwest on Tuesday due to slow farmer selling in recent weeks, grain dealers said. Cash bids for soyabeans and wheat were mostly unchanged.
Farmers were still bullish that prices for corn and soyabeans could rise in the coming weeks so were reluctant to book any sales at current prices levels. Most farmers were hoping that cash prices for corn would rally back to around $4 per bushel and for soyabean prices to rebound to $8 per bushel before they committed to any new sales.
Many growers had plenty of cash on hand from sales earlier this year so they were content to hold out for higher cash prices. Prospects for the size of this year's corn and soyabean crops improved during the past week and sent futures prices lower after the region received some much-needed rain.
The US Agriculture Department was set to release its acreage report, which should provide a snapshot of how much grain farmers will produce this year, on Friday. Shipping costs were mixed on Midwest rivers compared with last week's levels. Barges traded for 390 percent of tariff on the Illinois River, up 40 percentage points from Friday's level.
On the Mississippi River at St. Louis, bids for barges have fallen 10 percentage points to 340 percent of tariff since late last week. Barge bids were steady at 290 percent of tariff on the lower Ohio River. At the Chicago Board of Trade, July corn futures fell 1-1/4 cents to $3.56-1/2 per bushel, held back by forecasts for a big number for corn in Friday's acreage report.