Corn and soyabean spot basis bids fell at river terminals around the US Midwest on Thursday as barge freight costs spiked, grain merchants said. Bids for both crops were steady to weak at interior points amid heavy deliveries of contracted supplies, merchants said.
A tight supply of empty barges and influx of fresh supplies at river terminals pushed barge freight up 30 to 40 percent on the Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Farmers also delivered large amounts of corn and soyabeans to interior points in order to satisfy January contracts and that pressured basis bids for both crops. But growers made few new sales as corn futures fell more than 2 percent and soyabeans 1 percent. Many farmers are bullish and likely to remain on the sidelines until next week's USDA supply-and-demand report. Corn bids eased 4 cents at a major processor in Decatur, Illinois, and soyabeans by 5 cents at a crushing plant in Des Moines, Iowa.
Soft red winter wheat bids stayed flat. Corn export sales last week were at their lowest in 11 weeks and soyabean exports at a three-week low. Wheat sales rebounded from the previous week's three-month low but were 22 percent off the average of the past four weeks, according to USDA data released early Thursday. The disappointing exports and a firm dollar weighed on CBOT corn, soyabean and wheat futures, erasing much of the gains from Wednesday.
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