US FOB Gulf corn basis offers rose slightly on Monday, supported by solid export demand and little farmer selling of old-crop supplies, traders said. Soyabean export premiums held steady in a market seeing little demand. Both Brazil and Argentina were offering soyabeans at cheaper prices for August shipment.
Brazil was offering soyabeans at 34 cents a bushel discount to CBoT August, compared with 11-14 cents premium for US supplies. Soft red winter wheat basis offers held steady, but exporters were no longer offering hard red winter wheat with 12 percent protein due to the lower protein of this year's crop. Most exporters were now offering to sell HRW wheat with 11 percent protein.
"This is one of the worst quality crops in years," said a trader.
A freeze and then frequent rains in the Plains have hammered the crop, reducing both quality and protein levels. Export demand was steady with Guatemala buying 105,900 tonnes of US wheat. US traders were skeptical of reports during the weekend that Iraq bought 300,000 tonnes of US hard wheat.
"I have not heard of any sale, only that they are still in negotiations," said a wheat trader. Traders also noted that selling Iraq the type of wheat it has bought in the past would be difficult given the lower protein levels this year. Iraq normally buys US HRW wheat with 12 percent protein.
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