Corn and soyabean spot basis bids held mostly steady around the US Midwest early Thursday as slow sales of each crop were offset by increased deliveries to satisfy existing contracts, grain merchants said. Corn bids eased by 1 cent at two locations in Toledo, Ohio, where farmers were dumping large amounts of grain to meet March contracts.
Warm and relatively dry weather this week has given farmers an opportunity to haul supplies to elevators and processors ahead of the spring planting season. Scattered showers kept some farmers indoors early Thursday and growers were calling grain buyers to check on cash prices and basis levels, but few fresh sales were seen as farmers held out for higher prices.
Corn bids firmed by 2 cents at a western Iowa ethanol plant while soya bids climbed 5 cents at a processor in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. River bids were narrowly mixed amid steady export demand at the US Gulf. Barge freight was weak on the lower Ohio River and flat on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.
USDA said private exporters sold 165,000 tonnes of new-crop US soyabeans to China and 106,680 tonnes old-crop US corn to Japan. Top global wheat importer Egypt purchased 60,000 tonnes of US soft red winter wheat for April 21-30 shipment in the third straight tender the main government wheat buyer has bought US-origin wheat after not buying any wheat from the United States for nearly eight months.