Spot basis bids for corn and soyabeans fell further around the US Midwest late Friday as farmers delivered harvested supplies and, in some cases, sold truck loads of each commodity, dealers said. A dealer in Davenport, Iowa, reported a pickup in farmer sales even as futures fell. Dealers noted few sales elsewhere.
The crops had high moisture content, the Davenport dealer said. "We have nothing but quality issues. It's wet, wet, wet," he said. Storage is becoming an issue, with some processors and elevators reducing delivery hours or cancelling them altogether. Ideal harvest weather is forecast into next week, while some farmers are harvesting deep into the night.
"People are trying to fit four weeks of harvest into four days," said a dealer at a soya processor in St. Joseph, Missouri. Corn bids fell by as much as 11-1/2 cents per bushel on the Illinois River, while soya bids fell 7 cents on the Mississippi River. In addition to an influx of harvested supplies, river bids also pressured by surging barge freight costs.
Persistent rains have lead to the latest harvest in more than 20 years, but the US soyabean crop is still expected to be the largest on record and US corn the second largest, analysts said ahead of a government report next week. Exporters reported the sale of 356,000 tonnes of US soyabeans to China for delivery during the 2009/10 marketing year, the US Agriculture Department said.
At the Chicago Board of Trade, an active harvest and lower crude oil weighed on futures. CBOT January soyabeans settled 17 cents lower at $9.50 per bushel. CBOT December corn was off 9-1/4 cents at $3.67-1/4. CBOT December wheat was off 14-1/4 cents at $4.97-1/2.