Cash bids for corn, soyabeans and soft red wheat firmed in the US Midwest interior on Thursday as farmers held off sales in order to focus on fieldwork and planting crops, dealers said. A drop in Chicago Board of Trade corn and wheat futures since late April as also sidelined growers, who have sold much of their old-crop supplies and are reluctant to sell the rest at current values.
Cash corn prices have fallen below the $7 a bushel mark that some farmers were eyeing, while soyabeans have fallen below the $14 target. Chicago elevators on Thursday raised the corn basis by 10 cents and the bean basis by 2 cents. Corn bids are up 15 cents for the week in Toledo, Ohio, and up 5 cents at Blair, Nebraska. Several Midwest crushers have raised the soya basis by 5 to 10 cents this week as farmer sales have stalled.
River soya bids were firm while river corn bids were mixed. Barge freight was steady to 10 points cheaper on the Illinois and the mid- & upper Mississippi rivers. WeatherBill, a weather insurance firm, estimated that 834 million to 1.6 billion bushels of corn may be lost due to heavy rains and planting delays so far in the eastern US Corn Belt. Wet weather in the eastern US Midwest continues to slow planting. There are outlooks for drier weather next week but the forecast is uncertain. Better crop seeding prospects in the western US Midwest.