CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Spot corn, soy barge basis rises on firm freight

CHICAGO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Basis bids for corn and soybeans shipped by barge to the U.S. Gulf Coast in the near term were firm on Thursday, as freight costs continued to climb as winter weather slowed operations on Midwest rivers, traders said.

Barge freight rates have edged higher as icy conditions on Midwest rivers and at locks slowed navigation. Frigid temperatures forecast for the region were expected to worsen navigation into March.

Strong export demand underpinned basis values for corn. Soybean sales, however, have slowed seasonally as global buyers are awaiting cheaper supplies from Brazil, where farmers are currently harvesting what is expected to be a record-large crop.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported net old- and new-crop U.S. corn sales of nearly 2 million metric tons in the week ended February 6 in the largest week of sales in more than three months. Top buyers were Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Colombia.

Net soybean export sales last week fell to the second lowest since last autumn's harvest, USDA data showed.

Recent foggy weather has stalled loadings at Gulf terminals, forcing some exporters to delay some near-term loadings into next month. The delays limited available export loading capacity and underpinned FOB export premiums, traders said.

CIF February corn barges were bid 4 cents higher at 80 cents over Chicago Board of Trade March CH25 futures. March barges were bid 77 cents over futures, up 2 cents.

Export premiums for corn loaded in March held steady at 85 cents over futures.

CIF soybean barges loaded in February were bid 5 cents higher at 71 cents over CBOT March SH25 futures. March barges were bid 4 cents higher at 79 cents over futures.

FOB export premiums for March soybean loadings were unchanged at 83 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