Spot corn and soyabean basis bids were steady to firm in the US Midwest interior on Monday, reflecting a lack of farmer selling, dealers said. Farmers in the western Midwest were busy with fieldwork. Corn planting was mostly complete in parts of western Iowa and Nebraska, and producers were shifting over to soyabeans.
Conditions remained too wet for fieldwork in much of the eastern Midwest, although farmers were working in a few areas. Analysts surveyed by Reuters expected USDA late Monday to report corn planting progress at around 31 percent complete, while soyabeans plantings were seen at roughly 7 percent complete. River bids for corn and soyabeans were lower due to high water on the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio river. The US Coast Guard last week closed a 5-mile stretch of the lower Mississippi River.
Midwest river terminals were not aggressively bidding for corn or soyabean supplies since barges will not have passage to the US Gulf Coast for several days. At the Chicago Board of Trade, grains and oilseed prices were rebounding, led by wheat amid concerns about poor crop weather in the southern US Plains and Europe. CBOT corn called to open 8 to 10 cents per bushel higher, soyabeans up 6 to 8 cents and wheat up 15 to 18 cents.