Spot basis bids for corn and soyabeans held mostly steady around the US Midwest on Monday as slow farmer sales were offset by limited demand from elevators, processors and ethanol plants, dealers said. Growers are not expected to resume sales of corn or soyabeans until the new tax year of 2012.
Many growers have enough cash to fund any expenses and the recent downturn in futures has quelled any interest in selling supplies from storage. But end users are not bidding aggressively for supplies, either, following the USDA's forecast last week of more plentiful commodity stockpiles.
A downturn in profit margins and uncertainty over tax ethanol breaks, which are set to expire at the end of the year, also led to some plants pulling back corn bids in recent days. A corn bid eased 1 cent Monday at a central Iowa plant. Bids for each crop climbed modestly at a terminal along the Mississippi River. The terminal has finished loading barges for the season but still has room for supplies in its elevator, a dealer said.
Soya bids eased 3 cents at a processor in Sioux City, Iowa, while bids gained 2 cents in Decatur, Illinois. Barge freight costs were steady on Midwest rivers. CBOT soyabean futures ended firm Monday, rebounding from hitting a 14-month low, while corn futures ended nearly unchanged as bargain buying limited losses despite pressure from gains in the dollar.