Spot basis bids for corn and soyabeans held mostly steady across the US Midwest on Monday as farmer offerings of each crop remained light despite a rally at the Chicago Board of Trade, grain merchants said. Futures for each crop jumped about 1 percent, rebounding from technically oversold conditions, with corn notching a one-week high. But growers delayed new sales while deliveries were also slow with the harvest about done.
Corn bids firmed by 3 cents per bushel at an elevator in Council Bluffs, Iowa, while soya bids rose 2 cents at a processor in Lafayette, Indiana, with the basis for both commodities largely unchanged elsewhere. Many grain dealers described a quiet day of trading as farmers stayed entrenched on the sidelines ahead of Thursday's US Thanksgiving Day holiday, when many processors and elevators will close for deliveries. Barge freight costs eased on the Mississippi River at St. Louis and rose on the lower Ohio River. Low water levels could restrict barge traffic near St. Louis while shippers on the Ohio River would bypass that section en route to the US Gulf Coast.