US crop processors and rail markets dropped their corn and soyabean basis bids on Friday ahead of the autumn harvests, grain merchants said. A processor in Decatur, Illinois, reduced its soyabean bid by 10 cents from Thursday, bringing the bid down by a total of 25 cents from a week earlier, merchandisers said. In Sioux City, Iowa, a processor lowered its soyabean bid by 20 cents, a dealer said.
Corn bids dropped by 5 cents in rail markets in Hereford, Texas, and by 3 cents in Fort Worth, Texas, a dealer said. The four-day Pro Farmer Midwest crop tour forecast US average corn yield at 164.3 bushels per acre, enough to produce a 13.323 billion bushel crop, the third-largest ever. Pro Farmer estimated US soyabean production at 3.887 billion bushels, with an average yield of 46.5 bpa. A harvest that size would be the second-largest soyabean crop, after last year's record.