Soy, corn barge bids firm as freight costs rise
Basis bids for soybeans and corn delivered by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals rose on Friday, lifted by a slow pace of farmer grain sales this week and rising costs for barge freight, traders said.
CIF soybean barges loaded in July were bid at 89 cents over CBOT August (SQ25) futures, up 2 cents from Thursday, and August soy barges were bid at 90 cents over futures, up a penny.
FOB export premiums for soybeans shipped from the Gulf in August held at around 95 cents over August (SQ25) futures.
For corn, CIF barges loaded in July were bid at 88 cents over CBOT September (CU25) futures, up 2 cents from Thursday, while August corn barges were bid at 86 cents over futures, up 1 cent.
FOB export premiums for corn shipped from the Gulf in August were unchanged at around 100 cents over September futures.
Empty barges for this week on the Mississippi River at St. Louis were offered at 385% of tariff, up from 375% a day earlier and up from 340% a week ago.
Illinois River barges were offered at 500% of tariff, up from 490% a day ago and 460% a week ago.
U.S. stockpiles of old-crop corn will shrink four-year lows ahead of what is expected to be a record harvest this autumn, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its monthly supply-and-demand report on Friday.
The USDA lowered its forecast of 2024/25 corn ending stocks to 1.340 billion bushels in the report, from 1.365 billion bushels a month ago, and raised its 2024/25 corn export estimate to 2.750 billion bushels, which would be a record high if realized by the end of the marketing year on August 31.
Under its reporting rules for daily export sales, the USDA confirmed private sales of 219,000 metric tons of U.S. new-crop soybeans to Mexico.
