Spot basis bids for soyabeans and corn held steady at processors and elevators around the US Midwest on Friday, grain dealers said. Cash prices for corn topped $6 per bushel in some areas, which spurred some light selling of old crop supplies by farmers, a dealer in northern Ohio said.
Farmers also booked sales of corn and soyabeans they will deliver to elevators and processors in future months, dealers said. Planting progress was mixed. Some fields in places like western Illinois were dry enough for farmers to seed corn. But many Iowa farmers were still sidelined by soggy conditions, dealers said.
Grain traders were expecting a US Agriculture Department report scheduled to be released on Monday to show that corn seeding was between 45 percent and 50 percent complete. The average for this time of year is 77 percent. Although the soyabean basis was mostly steady, bids fell by 5 cents per bushel in western Iowa.
Dealers finished rolling their corn and soyabean basis bids to the Chicago Board of Trade July futures contracts from the May contracts. The May contracts are set to expire on May 14.
At the Chicago Board of Trade, the May soyabean futures contract rose 51-1/4 cents, a 4 percent gain, to $13.49-1/2 per bushel while the July contract closed 48 cents higher at $13.58 per bushel. Traders said a USDA report that forecast smaller-than-expected soya ending stocks supported futures prices. The May corn futures contract fell 1/4 cent to $6.18-1/2 a bushel while the July contract ended 1 cent lower at $6.29-1/4 a bushel.