Spot basis bids for corn and soyabeans held steady at most interior locations around the interior US Midwest on Monday amid scattered selling of both commodities, grain dealers said. Some growers were booking spot market sales to take advantage of a futures market rally that pushed cash prices for both corn and soyabeans higher.
But overall sales were light as most farmers could afford to wait and see if prices rebound all the way back to highs reached earlier in the year, an Illinois dealer said. Some farmers in western Illinois were waiting to see if corn prices would reach $5 per bushel before they booked any new sales, a dealer in that area said.
Although the interior corn basis was mostly steady, bids rose by 15 cents per bushel at a processor in northern Illinois. Some corn processors were looking for crushing supplies after weeks of slow country movement. Along rivers, cash bids were mixed, rising on the Mississippi River but falling at a terminal along the Illinois River.
Shipping costs were steady to weaker on Midwest rivers. Barges were bid at 350 percent of tariff on the Mississippi River at St. Louis, down from 355 percent of tariff on Thursday. On the lower Ohio River, bids for barges fell to 380 percent of tariff from 390 percent of tariff.
Bids for barges held steady at 440 percent of tariff on the Illinois River. Chicago Board of Trade grain and soyabean markets on Monday bounced back from sharp declines late last week. May soyabean futures rose the 50-cent daily trading limit, a 4.1 percent gain, to close at $12.57 per bushel while May corn futures rose 17-1/4 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $5.24-3/4 per bushel. CBOT May wheat futures rose 32-1/2 cents, a 3.3 percent gain, to close at $10.20 a bushel.