CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soy barge bids soften; corn bids steady
Spot basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals eased a bit on Friday despite confirmation of fresh U.S. soy export sales, while corn bids held steady in subdued trade following Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday.
Some offices and grain facilities were closed for a long holiday weekend.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed private sales of 129,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to China and another 323,400 tons to unknown destinations.
Separately, in its weekly export sales report, the USDA showed soybean sales in the week ended Nov. 16 at 961,300 metric tons, toward the low end of trade expectations for 800,000 to 1,800,000 tons.
U.S. corn export sales for the week to Nov. 16 totaled 1,432,400 metric tons, the USDA said, toward the high end of trade expectations, and weekly U.S. wheat sales totaled 171,800 tons, in line with expectations.
Low corn prices, with CBOT benchmark futures Cv1 hovering near three-year lows, kept global export business simmering this week.
Most recently, South Korea’s Feed Leaders Committee purchased around 52,000 metric tons of corn in a private deal, and Chinese importers are believed to have bought about 66,000 metric tons of corn from Ukraine.
Iranian state-owned animal feed importer SLAL is believed to have purchased about 120,000 metric tons of corn in an international tender that closed on Tuesday. GRA/U
Taiwan’s MFIG purchasing group and South Korea’s Nonghyup Feed Inc (NOFI) and Major Feedmill Group (MFG) also booked corn earlier this week, traders said. GRA/U
Traders continue to monitor adverse crop weather in Brazil, the world’s top soybean exporter. Agribusiness consultancies Safras & Mercado and hEDGEpoint lowered their forecasts of Brazil’s soy harvest as consensus grows that bad weather will hamper output.
At the U.S. Gulf, basis bids for CIF soybean barges loaded in November were unquoted while December barges were bid at 48 cents over CBOT January SF24 futures, down 2 cents from Wednesday.
Export premiums for Gulf soybeans loaded in December held steady at around 66 cents over January futures.
For corn, CIF Gulf November barge bids were unchanged at 50 cents over CBOT December CZ3 futures.
Export premiums for December corn loadings held at around 65 cents over December futures.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Julie Ingwersen)