US FOB Gulf basis offers for old-crop soyabeans eased by a penny on Friday after jumping sharply the previous day as futures recovered slightly from the prior session's plunge and demand for US shipments waned. FOB corn and wheat basis offers were mostly steady. Corn and soyabean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade rose modestly on Friday after hitting multi month lows this week, with July corn up 3 cents at $4.47 a bushel and July soya up 10-1/2 at $14.25-3/4 a bushel.
The bulk of US soyabean demand is focused on new-crop supplies, keeping FOB values for late September through December shipments well supported. June and July shipments were thinly offered at 92 cents a bushel over July futures. A sharp drop in farmer corn sales as prices slid to four-month lows this week kept a floor under cash corn basis values in the CIF and FOB markets.
FOB corn offers for June shipment were steady at 110 cents a bushel above the July futures contract. First-half June CIF corn barges needed to supply Gulf exporters traded up to 75 cents over futures on Friday due to tight spot supplies, traders said. China's move to scrap its annual stockpiling of soyabeans could pave the way for liberalisation of corn trade, which could bolster imports in coming years, the founder of China's New Hope Group said.
Hard and soft red winter wheat basis offers at the Gulf were quietly steady with traders content to let the drop in futures this week uncover more business. A tender by Egypt's GASC this week reinforced the message that US wheat was not competitively priced on the world market compared with rival suppliers from the Black Sea region.
