Corn spot basis bids were firm at elevators, river terminals and rail markets around the US Midwest on Tuesday as grain merchants continued to sweeten bids in an effort to spur sales from bullish farmers. Soyabean bids were firm at an elevator in northern Ohio and at a processor in central Iowa and largely unchanged elsewhere.
Scattered sales noted across the region, with a slightly larger volume of soyabeans sold than corn, grain merchants said. But many farmers put off sales in the hopes that soyabeans will advance beyond their two-week high and corn will surpass its one-week top, both notched on Tuesday.
Corn bids surged as much as 10 cents at rail terminals in the eastern Midwest as rail traders tried to compete with sharply higher basis in the CIF barge market. Corn bids gained 1 cent on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers and 3 cents in Toledo, Ohio. "The river market has been so strong, so there's not a lot that's been trading on the rail," an Indiana trader said. Farmers' "bins are locked up and they are going to make people pay for it," said an Ohio grain buyer. CBOT corn futures settled 1.65 percent higher Tuesday amid soaring wheat futures and talk that exports from No 2 corn exporter Argentina could be hampered by drought. Soyabeans also ended higher, surpassing the lows set in the wake of USDA's bearish crop production report from earlier this month.
But corn and soyabean basis bids have increased in tandem with futures, indicating strong demand in the cash market. Many farmers have enough cash to cover any expenses for the first part of the year and are in no rush to sell at prices still lower than highs set in the first days of 2012.
Robust demand for US corn and limited amounts of the grain in position near export elevators at the US Gulf Coast sent basis bids for spot barge loads of corn to fresh five-month highs on Tuesday. Barge freight up sharply on the Illinois River and weak on the lower Ohio River.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.