US soyabean export premiums at the Gulf of Mexico were mostly steady on Monday amid narrow supplies in the marketing pipeline and seasonally slow demand for near term shipments, traders said. Limited, scattered farmer sales of soyabeans reported on Monday amid rally in futures to one-month high. But nearby supplies in the cash market remained tight, keeping a firm floor under CIF basis and thus under FOB export premiums.
Solid demand from China for new-crop US soyabeans slated for shipment in 2010/11 marketing year. Chinese importers have purchased more than three times as many new-crop soyabeans to date compared with a year ago.
South American soyabean prices undercutting US export prospects in near term as Brazil, Argentina harvest record-large crops. Moderate port backups in Brazil not impacting soyabean demand from China backups reported with in offloading vessels of soyabeans arriving in China.
Chinese customs data showed 9.6 percent drop in February imports from the same month a year ago. US corn export premiums were unchanged on Monday amid flat CIF barge basis values and mostly routine export demand, traders said. Gulf corn prices for nearby shipment at slight premium to Argentine corn prices, but US has slight freight advantage to key markets in Asia, traders said.