Corn spot basis bids were mostly steady around the US Midwest on Wednesday after futures jumped to a roughly one-month high, triggering a wave of farmer sales, grain merchants said. However, strong demand from some processors and livestock producers underpinned bids in some areas. The corn basis eased by 5 cents per bushel at a Chicago elevator, and rose by 1 to 2 cents in southern US Plains cattle feeding markets.
Bids were flat in the Midwestern river markets that flow to US Gulf Coast export terminals, despite a spike in farmer sales. "It was nice to see July corn futures get to $4 per bushel. We were buying a lot of corn," said a grain merchant in Davenport, Iowa, along the Mississippi River. July corn settled 2-1/2 cents higher at $3.99-1/2 per bushel, after earlier reaching $4 for the first time since April 21 on investor short-covering. Soyabean basis bids were up 5 cents per bushel at an elevator in western Iowa and mostly steady elsewhere in the region.