Spot basis bids for corn rose at processors and elevators around the US Midwest on Thursday while soyabean bids held steady at most locations, grain dealers said. Farmer selling of both commodities was light on Thursday, an Illinois dealer said.
Although the soyabean basis was mostly unchanged, bids rose by 5 cents per bushel in western Iowa. Bids fell by 5 cents per bushel in central Illinois. In export news, the US Agriculture Department said on Thursday morning that export sales of corn were 833,100 tonnes (old crop and new crop combined) in the latest reporting week.
Analysts had been expecting corn export sales between 650,000 and 850,000 tonnes. Soyabean export sales were 735,400 tonnes (old crop and new crop combined), topping forecasts for 250,000 tonnes to 450,000 tonnes. Wheat export sales fell 19 percent to 610,400 tonnes (old crop only), in line with estimates for 500,000 tonnes to 700,000 tonnes Shipping costs were steady to slightly higher Midwest rivers.
A stretch of the Mississippi River from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico was closed on Thursday after a chemical tanker split a fuel barge in half earlier in the week, spilling thousands of gallons of oil. Barges were bid at 350 percent of tariff on the lower Ohio River, in line with Wednesday's bids.
Bids for barges were rose 10 percentage points to 460 percent of tariff on the Illinois River. On the Mississippi River at St. Louis, barges were bid at 370 percent of tariff, unchanged from Wednesday. At the Chicago Board of Trade, September corn futures rose 1-1/2 cents to $5.73 per bushel, supported by oversold technical signals and strength in the crude oil market.
August soyabean futures closed 9-1/4 cents lower at $13.85 a bushel while the November contract dropped 11 cents to $13.73 a bushel due to good crop weather and the prospect of a rise in exports from Argentina. CBOT September wheat rose 4-1/2 cents to $7.87-3/4 a bushel. Traders said the market was technically oversold and due for a recovery bounce.