US FOB Gulf corn basis offers fell on Monday amid pressure from the advancing Midwest harvest, while soyabeans firmed on exporter buying, traders said. Exporters have been receiving new-crop southern corn at the Gulf for weeks, but the Midwest harvest was beginning, traders said.
"The front end has been pretty weak," said a trader. "It's just a little bit of harvest pressure but freight is pretty firm so they won't load much." Corn for shipment in the first half of October as offered at 61 cents a bushel premium to CBOT September, down from offers of 67 cents premium last week.
In the CIF barge market that supplies export elevators, September corn traded at 60 cents premium early on Monday but then traded for as little as 56 cents premium, traders said. CIF corn for October shipment traded at 57 cents premium to CBOT December.
Loading capacity at the Gulf remains tight due to heavy shipments of corn and wheat. The Iraq Grain Board said on Monday it bought 100,000 tonnes of North American wheat for shipment in October or November. "If they actually bought the wheat, it had to come from Canada," said a US wheat trader. "I don't think anyone sold US wheat at the prices they were quoting."
At the same time Iraq announced the new purchase, Iraq issued a wheat tender that will close on September 1, with bids to remain valid until September 12. Soyabean export premiers, traders said.
The buying may have been related to a sharp jump in Brazilian soyabean export premiums, traders said. Brazilian beans for October shipment were offered at 50 cents a bushel premium to CBOT November on Monday, up 15 cents. US soyabeans for October shipment were offered at 40 to 45 cents premium.
In the US CIF barge market, October shipment soyabeans traded at 42 cents premium on Monday, after trading at 40 cents premium on Friday. December soyabeans traded at 42 cents premium to CBOT January on Monday and traded at the same price on Friday.