Corn and soyabean spot basis bids fell sharply at terminals along the Mississippi River on Tuesday ahead of the seasonal closure of the waterway, grain merchants said. The basis was steady to firm at interior points as sales of each crop remained light, merchants said.
Barge traffic has already ceased for the season at points on the upper Mississippi while this week will be the last for shipping on the river at Dubuque, Iowa, traders said. Soyabean bids fell as much as 17 cents per bushel and corn bids eased 5 cents at a terminal further south in Davenport, Iowa, as the terminal loaded its last barges of the season.
Lackluster demand at the US Gulf also pressured basis bids on the river. Barge freight costs eased on the lower Mississippi at St. Louis, the Illinois River and the lower Ohio River, reflecting the slow grain movement into export channels. But scant offerings by farmers supported the basis at interior points, with corn bids increasing at processors in Decatur, Illinois, and Blair, Nebraska, and soya bids climbing slightly in Burns Harbor, Indiana.
Farmers are entrenched on the sidelines and the growers may delay sales until the new tax year of 2012. Little to no selling noted on Tuesday even as futures posted modest gains. CBOT corn futures gained nearly 1 percent in a bargain-buying bounce after prices slid to the lowest level in nearly a year on a continuous chart.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.