Cash basis bids for corn and soyabeans were mostly steady in the US Midwest on Friday amid a slight pickup in farmer sales after CBOT futures rose early in the session, dealers said. Corn, soyabeans and soyaoil held strong through the close of trading after briefly rising their daily trading limits on a flood of consumer bargain buying, big exports of US corn and wheat and a bullish soyaoil outlook from the US government.
Several dealers received calls from producers inquiring about pricing, and a few booked sales. "There were minimal sales, but not as much as we hoped," a dealer in Council Bluffs, Iowa said. A rail broker in Kansas City noted some interior elevators also sold supplies.
Rain and snow storms late on Thursday and into Friday created icy conditions and snowdrifts in portions of the US Midwest. High water levels and winter weather issues slowed movement on Midwestern rivers but barge freight rates on the Illinois River were steady, a river broker said.
A corn bid improved by 1-1/2 cents and soyabean bid improved by 3 cents at Morris, Illinois on Illinois River where both crops were loaded onto barges for shipment to the US Gulf, a broker said. A Mississippi River location near Davenport, Iowa was expected to reopen on March 12, a broker said. Western rail corn bids for Hereford, Texas, improved by 2 cents.