CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soybean barge basis flat to lower on poor demand

CHICAGO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to the U.S. Gulf Coast were flat to lower on Thursday, pressured by plentiful spot supplies and weak demand from exporters, while CIF corn basis bids were mostly unchanged, traders said.

Gulf exporters were well supplied with soybeans following a recent flood of farmer sales and a drop in export demand, traders said. The U.S. soybean export loading pace is slowing seasonally as newly harvested Brazilian soy is beginning to flow to the market.

CIF soybean basis values for January and February barge loadings have weakened by more than 10 cents over the past week despite firming freight costs, traders said.

Demand from top soy importer China was slow as many traders there are away from their offices for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Net old-crop U.S. soybean export sales in the week ended Jan. 23 dropped to 438,000 metric tons, down 71% from a week earlier and the second lowest weekly level in the marketing year to date, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data released on Thursday.

CIF Gulf soybean barges loaded in January were bid at 57 cents over Chicago Board of Trade March SH25 futures, down from trades the previous day at 59 cents over futures. February soybean barges traded 60 cents over futures, down 2 to 3 cents from a day earlier, and were rebid at 59 cents over futures.

FOB export premiums for February soybean loadings were down 3 cents at 77 cents over futures.

CIF January corn barge bids were flat at 69 cents over CBOT March CH25 futures. February corn export premiums shed 2 cents to 78 cents over futures.

For displays of CIF basis, click on the codes in brackets:
U.S. CIF Gulf soybeans GRYM
U.S. CIF Gulf corn GRYN
U.S. CIF Gulf SRW wheat GRYO
U.S. CIF Gulf HRW wheat GRYP
For displays of FOB basis, please click on the following codes in brackets:
U.S. FOB Gulf corn GRZC
U.S. FOB Gulf soybeans GRZD
U.S. FOB Gulf SRW wheat GRZE
U.S. FOB Gulf HRW wheat GRZF

LINKS Corn prices page:   cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageid=corn-cash-market
Wheat prices page:  cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageid=wheat-cash-market
U.S. barge freight                  BG/US
U.S. export sales estimates         USDA/EST
U.S. grain export summary           GRA/U
Brazil soybean export prices        SYBS
Brazil corn export prices           SYBX
Argentina grain prices              GRA/ARG
Russia grain prices                 GRA/RU