US FOB Gulf soybean basis offers were mostly 5 cents to 15 cents a bushel higher after the sharply lower futures close on Monday's USDA crop report, with wheat and corn offers steady to firm as merchants tried to find new export demand, traders said.
USDA's June acreage and stocks report issued at midday set the tone and sent futures spiraling lower. USDA raised soybean plantings 3.3 million acres from its March figure, while corn and soybeans June 1 stocks were at the high end of estimates. CBOT November soy closed 70-3/4 cents lower at $11.57-1/4. July soy was 31-1/2 cents down at $14.00-1/2.
With inquiries from China for new-crop soy still strong before the report, traders lifted US new-crop basis offers. October was up the most at 150 over CBOT November, up 15. Soybean export inspections for the week ended June 26 were only 72,804 tonnes, with only 17,088 loaded out of the Gulf.
Corn futures also tanked, with July ending 18-3/4 lower at $4.24-1/4 and December down 22 at $4.25-1/4, reflecting the outlook for another massive crop this summer. USDA corn plantings were 91.6 million acres, in line with the March estimate. Corn basis offers were unchanged from Friday as merchants focus on competing with Argentina where prices were on par with the United States last Friday.
August and September corn was offered at 85 cents over CBOT September, while OND slots were offered nominal at 90 over CBOT December. USDA corn export inspections of 872,960 tonnes included 57,749 tonnes of corn for China out of the Pacific, the first US corn cargo since late April amid continuing problems with GMO corn certification by Chinese authorities.
USDA spring wheat acreage number of 12.709 million was far above the top analyst estimate and 700,000 above USDA's March number setting a tone for weakness in all wheat markets. CBOT September wheat futures closed 16-1/4 cents lower at $5.77-1/2, while KCBT September closed 21-1/2 lower at $7.00-1/4. SRW wheat basis offers were unchanged, with August and September offered at 95 over CBOT September. HRW wheat for July was steady at 155 over KC September, while October and November were up 8, reflecting higher freight costs for fall shipments.
Egypt's GASC jumped in the market after the close seeking wheat for August 11-20 loading. Traders expect Russia or Baltic wheat will continue to win Egypt's business as the US harvest drives futures lower. USDA's wheat inspections totaled 335,389 tonnes, with 145,774 out of the Gulf. China loaded 1,421 tonnes of wheat out of the Atlantic and Brazil 32,350 tonnes out of the Gulf.
