Spot basis bids for soyabeans were steady to firm at interior processors and elevators around the US Midwest on Thursday as some dealers were trying to boost supplies. Cash bids for corn held steady at most interior locations, grain dealers said. River bids for both corn and soybeans weakened amid rising shipping costs.
The slow pace of harvest has led to lighter-than-usual deliveries of both commodities to processors and elevators this fall. Damp conditions in areas west of the Mississippi River pushed farmers out of the fields again on Thursday, a dealer in western Iowa said.
Higher barge freight leaves dealers with less money to offer farmers for their grain. The US Agriculture Department said on Thursday morning export sales of corn were 789,600 tonnes (old crop only) in the latest reporting week. Analysts had been expecting corn export sales between 550,000 and 750,000 tonnes.
Soybean export sales were 784,100 tonnes (old crop only), near the high end of analysts' expectations for 550,000 to 800,000 tonnes. Export sales of wheat were 386,900 tonnes (old crop and new crop), in line with forecasts for 350,000 to 550,000 tonnes. Bids for barges on the Mississippi River at St. Louis rose to 550 percent of tariff from 525 percent of tariff on Wednesday.
Barges were bid at 700 percent of tariff on the lower Ohio River, a 25 percentage point increase from Wednesday's bids. On the Illinois River, barges were bid at 525 percent of tariff, in line with Wednesday's bids. At the Chicago Board of Trade, November soybean futures closed up 25-1/2 cents, or 3.0 percent, at $8.84-1/2 per bushel, on a mild rebound following weakness earlier in the week.