US FOB Gulf corn and soyabean basis offers were mostly steady on Monday, with importers cautious about committing to fresh sales after a violent move in prices, traders said. Importers were reluctant to be too aggressive in booking purchases after grain futures touched their lowest levels in years on Friday, traders said. Prices recovered a bit on Monday due to bargain buying and short covering.
The US Department of Agriculture sparked Friday's sell-off by increasing its US ending stocks estimates for old- and new-crop soyabeans, corn and wheat. The decline has made US soft red winter wheat more attractive to importers. However, the United States still faces stiff competition from the Black Sea on the world market, traders said.
An importer in Lebanon purchased about 7,000 tonnes of Black Sea-origin milling wheat, while importers in Indonesia purchased an unknown volume of Black Sea wheat, traders said. Russian wheat prices declined last week as the harvest advanced. A group of Israeli private buyers has issued two international tenders to purchase up to 108,000 tonnes of corn and 50,000 tonnes of feed wheat all of optional origin, European traders said.
Soyabean offers for September were unchanged at 180 cents over September futures. October was quoted at 155 cents over November futures, down 5 cents from Friday. FOB Gulf corn was steady for August/September at 100 cents over September futures and October/November/December slots were steady at 105 cents over December futures.
