US Cash Soymeal-Offers mostly flat, supplies tight

CHICAGO: Spot basis offers for US soymeal were mostly unchanged on Thursday but the rail market had a firm tone due to tight supplies available for sale, dealers said.

* The supply crunch, stemming from both planned and unplanned shutdowns at processing plants, was making it hard to find enough soymeal to fill trains, a broker said.

* Some plants that had been shut down were coming back on line but it will take some time before dealers are caught up filling previously booked orders.

* Dealings on the cash market were slow, a trader added.

* The US Agriculture Department on Thursday morning said that weekly export sales of soymeal totaled 154,000 tonnes. Analysts' forecasts for the weekly total ranged from 100,000 tonnes to 350,000 tonnes.

* At 11:12 a.m. CDT (1612 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade July soymeal futures were up $2.10 at $321.60 a ton.