US FOB Gulf corn and soyabean export premiums held steady on Friday while wheat basis offers were firm on fresh export demand, traders said. Soft red winter wheat basis values perked up with traders saying that a private Egyptian company bought a cargo at the Gulf. Iraq also has a tender pending for HRW wheat with talk that Turkey might also seek wheat next week.
Corn export demand continued to be robust with fresh sales this week to South Korea. South Korea has bought 6.9 million tonnes of US corn compared with 2.3 million tonnes at the same time last year. Exporters said the increased sales were due to China restricting corn exports amid rising domestic food prices. In addition, Korea was buying less feed wheat due to prices being at record highs.