Export basis offers for soyabeans, corn and wheat were mostly flat for US Gulf Coast shipments on Friday amid relatively dull demand and narrow moves in the underlying futures prices for the crops, dealers said. Farmers largely delayed sales of each commodity this week, limiting supplies flowing on barges to the Gulf and underpinning cash premiums. However, global soyabean and corn buyers continued to source much of their needs out of South America while wheat buyers looked to the Black Sea region.
Barge freight costs spiked in the upper Mississippi River, where workers were doing maintenance on the river near Winona, Minnesota, barge brokers said. Shipping costs were flat in the middle section of the Mississippi and the Illinois and Ohio rivers, reflecting the slow pace of farmer sales and comparatively light demand for empty barge vessels. CIF basis bids for soyabeans loaded in the remainder of July were steady at about 52 cents over the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) August futures contract.
CIF corn bids were for July were up 3 cents at 21 cents above the CBOT September contract. For hard red winter wheat, CIF bids were flat at 125 cents over the K.C. September contract. Spot FOB offers for corn were 37 cents over CBOT September corn futures. Spot FOB offers for soyabeans were 65 cents over CBOT August futures, down 1 cent. Spot FOB offers soft red winter wheat were 57 cents over CBOT September wheat futures. Spot FOB offers for hard red winter wheat were 162 cents over K.C. September wheat futures.