US FOB Gulf corn offers mixed

Export premiums for corn shipped from the US Gulf Coast were narrowly mixed on Thursday while soyabean and wheat premiums held mostly steady following the release of the US Agriculture Department's monthly supply and demand estimates, traders said. Nearby basis offers for all three commodities remain supported by tight near-term export loading capacity at Gulf Coast terminals and at locations in the Pacific Northwest. Poor weather has delayed loadings and slowed navigation in recent weeks.
Chinese demand for US soyabeans slowed from a more brisk pace earlier this week when buyers booked several cargoes for summertime shipment from the United States, traders said. The US Department of Agriculture on Thursday confirmed private sales of 107,000 tonnes of US soyabeans to unknown destinations for 2016/17 delivery.
The USDA on Thursday lowered its forecast for the Argentine soyabean crop by 1.5 million tonnes, but held its Brazilian outlook steady at 104 million tonnes, which was below several private estimates. The agency left its corn projections for both countries unchanged. Brazil's Conab raised its soya crop forecast to a record 105.6 million tonnes and projected the corn crop at a record 87.4 million tonnes.
China's forecast on Thursday of a drop in corn imports to their lowest in at least a decade may end a years-long bonanza for global merchants and producers as maize prices in the world's biggest grains market have dropped below global prices. South Korea's MFG bought 136,000 tonnes of optional-origin corn via a tender on Thursday. FOB basis offers for near-term shipments of soyabeans from the Gulf were around 47 cents to 48 cents a bushel above Chicago Board of Trade March futures.
Corn shipments from the Gulf in late February were offered around 65 cents a bushel over CBOT March futures. Offers for February soft red winter wheat shipments were 85 cents over March futures, while spot hard red winter wheat shipments were 135 cents over March futures.