Spot basis bids for corn weakened at processors and elevators around the US Midwest on Tuesday while soyabean bids were mostly unchanged, grain dealers said. Farmers booked light sales of both commodities after a futures market rally pushed cash prices for soyabeans 12 cents higher and corn prices about 10 cents higher.
A dealer in western Iowa said farmers in his area booked sales of 6,500 bushels of corn on Tuesday. Other farmers have put in offers to sell corn if cash prices reached $4 per bushel, a dealer along the Illinois River said. Cash prices for corn were between $3.66 and $3.86 a bushel on Tuesday.
Some farmers were waiting for the release of the US Agriculture Departments monthly crop production report on Wednesday morning before making decisions about any new sales. Analysts were expecting USDA to cut its soyabean ending stocks estimate to 195 million bushels, down from 210 million bushels in its previous report. Wheat ending stocks were seen at 656 million bushels and corn ending stocks were forecast at 1.80 billion bushels.
Barge freight was steady to slightly firmer on Midwest rivers amid the slow movement in the country. On the Mississippi River at St. Louis, barges were bid at 210 percent of tariff, unchanged from Monday. Shipping costs also held steady at 260 percent of tariff on the Illinois River. Bids for barges rose 10 percentage points to 210 percent of tariff on the Ohio River.