Export premiums for corn and soyabeans shipped from the US Gulf Coast were mostly steady on Tuesday, supported by overseas demand, traders said. US corn is competitively priced in the global market through March, after which time cheaper grain from South America is expected to compete with US shipments, traders said.
The US Department of Agriculture said 970,506 tonnes of US corn were inspected for export in the week ending on December 22. That was at the high end of trade expectations for 775,000 to 975,000 tonnes. Export inspections of US wheat were 520,975 tonnes, above analysts' expectations for 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes. And there were 1.7 million tonnes of US soyabeans inspected for export, toward the high end of estimates for 1.4 million to 1.8 million.
Traders are monitoring outbreaks of bird flu in Asia, a highly important market for feed grains, to assess its impact on export demand. China's Xinjiang region has culled more than 55,000 poultry birds following an outbreak of a highly virulent bird flu, and South Korea is trying to contain an outbreak of the virus. January corn shipments were offered at about 58 cents over CBOT March futures, unchanged from late on Friday. January US soyabean shipments were offered at about 58 cents a bushel over CBOT January futures, up a penny from Friday.