Spot basis bids for soyabeans and corn held steady at most processors and elevators around the US Midwest on Friday, grain dealers said. Farmer selling was light on Friday. Most growers already have sold most of their old crop supplies, a northern Ohio dealer said.
Most growers were not even calling dealers to find out prices, an Illinois dealer said. Although the soyabean basis was mostly steady, bids fell by 18 cents per bushel, at a terminal along the Mississippi River in Iowa.
The US Agriculture Department said on Friday that export sales of soyabeans were 280,500 tonnes (old crop and new crop combined) in the latest reporting week. Analysts had been expecting soyabean export sales between 250,000 tonnes and 500,000 tonnes.
Corn export sales were 589,700 tonnes in the latest reporting week (old crop and new crop combined), in line with trade estimates for 450,000 tonnes to 750,000 tonnes. Export sales of wheat were 436,600 tonnes (old crop only), topping forecasts for 100,000 tonnes to 300,000 tonnes. Dealers continued to roll their corn basis bids to the Chicago Board of Trade December futures contract from the September contract, which is set to expire on September 12.
Barge shipping costs held steady on Midwest rivers. Spot barges on the Mississippi River at St. Louis were bid at 575 percent of tarriff, unchanged from Thursday. On the Illinois River, barges were bid at 590 percent of tariff, in line with Thursday's bids.
Bids for barges held steady at 600 percent of tariff on the lower Ohio River. At the Chicago Board of Trade, September soybean futures closed 54 cents lower, a 4.4 percent drop, at $11.80 per bushel and November was down 58 cents at $11.77 a bushel due to spillover weakness from the crude oil market and improving crop weather in the Midwest.
September corn closed 17-3/4 cents lower, a 3.2 percent drop, at $5.31-1/2 a bushel and December was off 16 cents at $5.48-1/2 a bushel. September wheat fell 25-1/2 cents, a 3.4 percent drop, to $7.29-3/4 per bushel and December shed 25-1/2 cents to close at $7.51-1/2 on technical selling and profit taking following a rally on Thursday.