Export premiums for soyabeans shipped from the US Gulf Coast were flat in quiet dealings on Thursday on weak demand as South American shipments dominated the global marketplace, traders said. US soyabeans are competitively priced for August shipment and beyond, but demand from top importer China remained limited to near-term South American shipments and early 2017 Brazilian cargoes.
China booked several cargoes of Brazilian and Argentine soyabeans for June through August shipment this week along with some new-crop 2017 Brazilian soyabeans, a trader said. Weak CIF soyabean basis values also kept a lid on US export premiums, with May and June barge bids easing on Thursday. US wheat export premiums were unchanged, with the bulk of demand concentrated in new-crop months.
US Gulf corn export premiums were generally steady on solid export demand, with crop woes in South America supporting sales prospects for US shipments. Net US corn export sales last week totaled 1.1 million tonnes for 2015/16 shipment and 150,400 tonnes for 2016/17, the US Agriculture Department said in a weekly report.
Additionally, the USDA on Thursday reported private sales of 210,000 tonnes of US corn to Saudi Arabia for 2015/16 delivery. It was the largest one-off US purchase by the country since at least 1999, according to USDA data. Net US soyabean export sales last week were 212,500 tonnes for 2015/16 delivery and just 6,900 tonnes for 2016/17, below trade forecasts and the lowest combined sales in more than three months, USDA data showed. Wheat export sales topped expectations at 294,900 tonnes for old crop and 387,900 tonnes for new crop. FOB soyabean basis offers for June shipments were 38 cents a bushel over CBOT July futures, which closed 6-1/4 cents lower at $10.72 a bushel.
May through July corn shipments were offered at about 51 cents over CBOT July futures, which closed 11-1/2 cents higher at $3.89. Spot soft red winter wheat was offered at about 60 cents over CBOT July futures, which closed 9 cents higher at $4.68. Spot hard red winter wheat offers were about 85 cents over July futures which closed 7-1/2 cents higher at $4.49-3/4.