Spot basis bids for corn and soyabeans were firm at US Midwest river terminals on Wednesday, bolstered by the continued light offerings from farmers and as barge freight costs were steady to lower, grain merchants said. Bids for the crops also had a mostly firm tone at interior processors and elevators as farmers delayed sales ahead of Thursday's US Independence Day holiday.
Futures trading will resume at 8:30 am CDT (1330 GMT) on Friday at the Chicago Board of Trade in observance of the July 4 holiday. The corn and soya basis was modestly higher on both the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, with merchants on the Mississippi hopeful of resuming load barges later this week as waters recede from their flood stage.
Reduced shipping costs on the Illinois River also supported bids as recent rains stalled the soft red winter wheat harvest and slowed demand for vessels to transport the fresh supplies to US Gulf Coast export markets. Soft red winter wheat bids firmed 2 cents in Toledo, Ohio, with some dealers concerned high-quality milling wheat will be in short supply after recent showers reduced the quality of some wheat fields to animal feed.
Corn bids were mostly steady to higher but fell 10 cents per bushel in Decatur, Illinois. Decatur was still bidding against Chicago Board of Trade July futures, a contract that gained on the September corn futures contract that most in the grains industry are bidding against.