CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soybean barge bids tick lower; corn basis steady

CHICAGO, March 12 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals inched lower on Wednesday after firming earlier this week while the basis for corn barges held steady, traders said.

Some brokers attributed underlying support in Gulf CIF basis values to shippers seeking grain to load vessels before tariffs on U.S. grains go into effect.

The European Union will impose counter tariffs on $28 billion worth of U.S. goods from next month, the European Commission said on Wednesday, in response to blanket U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. China suspended soybean import licenses of three U.S. firms last week, stepping up its retaliation for additional U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.

At the Gulf, CIF soybean barges loaded in March were bid at 72 cents over Chicago Board of Trade May SK25 soybean futures, down a penny from Tuesday.

FOB export premiums for April soybean loadings were flat at around 89 cents over May futures.

For corn, CIF barges loaded in March were bid at 68 cents over CBOT May corn futures CK25, unchanged from Tuesday. April corn barges were bid at 67 cents over futures, also unchanged.

FOB offers for corn shipped from the Gulf in April held steady at around 77 cents over CBOT May futures.

Ahead of Thursday's weekly export sales report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, traders expect the government to report U.S. corn sales in the week to March 6 at 725,000 to 1,400,000 metric tons. Traders estimated weekly soybean sales at 275,000 to 700,000 tons and wheat sales at 275,000 to 650,000 tons.

In Argentina, oilseed workers called off a nationwide strike at soybean processing plants due to a government order hours before it was set to start Wednesday, though workers for conglomerate Vicentin stuck to the strike action.

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