US FOB Gulf corn and soyabean basis offers were steady on Friday night with inquiries steady and futures boosting flat prices for foreign buyers, traders said. Wheat basis offers were steady to lower in slow business with HRW offers at the Texas Gulf showing the most weakness with US wheat still overpriced for many world buyers, traders said.
FOB Gulf soyabeans for February were unchanged at 105 cents over CBOT March soya, which closed up 6-3/4 cents at $9.90-1/2 a bushel. March offers were unchanged at 90 cents over March futures, with the price structure holding steady with Chinese fill-in buying ahead of their switch to new-crop South American cargoes in the coming weeks. USDA on Friday morning reported that Chinese buyers booked 110,000 tonnes of 2015/16 soyabeans as they plan ahead for next year.
FOB traders noted that the strength in CIF soya barge values, as processors fought them for supplies, eased off a bit on Friday. FOB Gulf corn offers for February were thin due to tight capacity but nominally quoted at 75 cents over CBOT March, which closed 4-1/4 cents up at $3.87-1/4. March offers were steady at 70 cents over March futures.
As with Gulf CIF soyabeans, CIF corn eased late Friday with a pickup in farmer sales as futures moved higher. Wheat demand remains slow with the strong dollar weighing heavily on the market. FOB Gulf HRW wheat at the Texas Gulf for February/March was down 2 cents at 138 cents over KCBT March , which closed 8-3/4 cents higher at $5.62-3/4.
FOB Gulf SRW values at the New Orleans Gulf were unchanged, with February offers at 120 cents over CBOT March , which closed 11-3/4 cents up at $5.33. Traders said they did not expect Russia to resume cheap wheat sales to Egypt soon but the United States was unlikely to win any Egyptian business with French and Romanian wheat $10 to $15 per tonne cheaper on a FOB basis. CBOT markets will be closed on Monday for the US Presidents Day holiday. Futures trading resumes at 7 pm CT (0100 GMT) Monday night.