Soy barge bids steady-higher; corn basis softens

Apr 27, 202400:31 UTC

Basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to the U.S. Gulf Coast were steady to higher on Friday, supported by tight supplies of the oilseed as farmer sales remained thin, traders said.

* But corn barge bids drifted lower in quiet trade.

* Midwest farmers have been focused on planting their 2024 crops, but rains crossing much of the Corn Belt on Friday likely interrupted field work.

* Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat prices ZW1! rose nearly 10% this week, their largest weekly advance in more than two years, spurring light farmer sales of old- and new-crop wheat bushels, brokers said.

* At the Gulf, CIF soybean barges loaded in April were bid at 45 cents over the CBOT May futures (SK24) contract, steady with Thursday, but May soybean barges traded at 57 cents over futures, up 4 cents from Thursday's trades. May barges were re-bid at 54 cents over futures.

* Export premiums for May soybean loadings at the Gulf held at around 60 cents over May futures.

* For corn, CIF Gulf barges loaded in April were bid at 50 cents over CBOT May (CK24) futures, down 2 cents from Thursday. May corn barges were also bid 2 cents lower at 50 cents over futures.

* FOB basis offers for May corn loadings held steady at 55 cents over CBOT May futures while June loadings were offered around 48 cents over July (CN24) futures, down a penny.

* Ukraine's grain exports in the 2023/24 July-June marketing season had reached almost 40.3 million metric tons as of April 26 versus 41.1 million a year earlier, agriculture ministry data showed. Exports this season have included 15.4 million tons of wheat, 22.2 million tons of corn and 2.2 million tons of barley.

* Argentina's massive Rosario port lost its spot as the world's No. 2 grains export hub in 2023, a report from a local exchange showed, underscoring the impact of a historic drought. Rosario shipped out 42.4 million metric tons of grains last year, falling behind the Santos port in Brazil, which exported 62.3 million tons. The U.S. port of New Orleans nabbed the No. 1 spot, the Rosario grains exchange report said.