US FOB Gulf corn basis offers firmed on Thursday amid steady export sales and heavy vessel loadings, while soyabeans weakened as farmers sold on futures prices hitting a 19-year high, traders said. Wheat values held steady amid a routine weekly purchase by Japan.
Pakistan continues to work on a tender for 300,000 tonnes of wheat and is expected to buy a large amount of US soft white wheat. Jordan will close a tender over the weekend for 100,000 tonnes of hard wheat, which it is expected to buy from the Black Sea region. India will tender on Monday for 350,000 tonnes. Soyabean basis values came under pressure from farmer selling this week as futures prices rallied to a 19-year high this week.
"There's a lot of beans moving," said a trader. "We're doing a lot of business but we've seen a lot of farmer selling." China continues to buy US and Argentine soyabeans to ensure adequate supplies to prevent further food inflation. USDA early Thursday said US exporters sold 110,000 tonnes of US soya to China for 2007/08 delivery. USDA has reported sales totalling 452,000 tonnes to China so far this month.