Spot basis bids for corn and soyabeans were steady to higher at US Midwest elevators, processors and river terminals on Friday, supported by lower futures and slow farmer offerings of each commodity, grain merchants said. Corn bids firmed by 6 cents per bushel at a rail terminal in the southern US Plains while bids for each crop firmed modestly on the Mississippi River after the steep drop in futures during the past two sessions spurred renewed export demand.
Soyabean bids were firm at processing plants around the region as livestock and poultry producers bought truckloads of soyameal amid the lower futures. Farmer sales came to a virtual standstill, with little evidence of so-called "scare selling." Many producers have enough cash to pay for input costs for the spring planting season and are in no rush to sell into a bear market, merchants said. Basis bids held mostly steady at commercial elevators and ethanol plants.
Barge freight was flat on Midwest waterways. CBOT corn and soyabean futures each fell about 2 percent on Friday, extending losses from Thursday in the wake of a bearish USDA stocks and production report, with further pressure from forecasts for crop-boosting rains in South America.