Spot basis bids for soyabeans fell at river locations around the US Midwest on Tuesday while corn bids rose along waterways, grain dealers said. Cash bids for both commodities were mostly steady at interior processors and elevators. Farmer selling was mostly slow, grain dealers said.
A few growers booked sales of both corn and soyabeans when the market fell sharply early in the day. But sales were only for small amounts of grain and slowed to a trickle as the day wore on, an Illinois dealer said. Although the interior soyabean basis was mostly steady, bids rose by 5 cents per bushel in Sioux City, Iowa.
Shipping costs were steady to weak on Midwest rivers. Barges were bid at 375 percent of tariff on the Mississippi River at St. Louis, down 25 percentage points from Monday's bids. Bids for barges also fell 25 percentage points, to 425 percent of tariff on the lower Ohio River. On the Illinois River, bids for barges held steady at 550 percent of tariff.
At the Chicago Board of Trade, July corn futures fell 23-3/4 cents to $6.92-3/4 per bushel while the September contract dropped 23-1/4 cents to $7.04-1/2. Good crop weather and improving crop conditions weighed on prices. July soyabean futures fell 28 cents to $15.61 a bushel, a 1.8 percent drop, while the August contract fell 30 cents to $15.49 a bushel, also weighed down by improved crop conditions and a drop in the crude oil futures market.