Export premiums for soyabeans and corn were largely unchanged at the US Gulf Coast on Monday as increased supplies were balanced by a bump in international demand, traders said. Premiums steadied in the free-on-board ocean market for the crops while basis bids were narrowly mixed in the barge market.
Farmers and commercial elevators sold relatively large volumes of the crops during the last week as futures rallied, boosting supplies flowing to terminals along the Gulf. US loadings were switching seasonally to heavier corn shipment and lighter soyabeans, as the opposite scenario occurred in Brazil. US Department of Agriculture data released earlier showed 1.013 million tonnes of US corn inspected for export last week, the most since July, while soyabean export inspections of 575,087 tonnes were the smallest since September.
However, a rising Brazilian real was keeping US soyabeans more competitive with freshly harvested Brazilian supplies. One trader said top soya importer China on Friday bought as many as four bulk US cargoes of soyabeans for shipment in September to November. Chinese data released earlier on Monday showed soyabean imports in February of 4.5 million tonnes, up from 4.26 million tonnes in the same month last year.