Corn and soyabean spot basis bids were steady to narrowly mixed around the US Midwest on Tuesday as futures ended nearly unchanged and farmers delayed sales of each commodity, grain merchants said. Corn bids eased at an eastern Nebraska ethanol plant and at rail terminals in the eastern Midwest but were firm on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers amid tight supplies at the US Gulf.
Soya bids eased on the Mississippi and were weak on the Illinois while bids were unchanged at interior elevators and processors. Few sales of corn or soyabeans seen Tuesday as CBOT March corn settled 2 cents per lower and March soyabeans 1 cent per bushel lower, with the slightly lower prices chilling any selling interest from farmers.
Soya futures had risen to a three-month high on Monday, spurring some farmer sales of soyabeans, which weighed on bids on Tuesday at some locations. "It seems like farmers are selling the beans to meet their cashflow needs and they are holding their corn," said a grain buyer at an Iowa terminal along the Mississippi River.
Barge freight weak on the Mississippi and Illinois while shipping costs were flat on the lower Ohio River. CBOT corn and soya futures were little-changed on Tuesday as traders evened positions ahead of Thursday's monthly USDA crop report, while wheat futures fell nearly 1 percent on milder weather in the Black Sea region.