CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Corn barge bids tick higher on exporter demand

CHICAGO, April 29 (Reuters) - Basis bids for corn delivered by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals strengthened on Tuesday in response to brisk exporter demand, rising freight costs and a lack of farmer grain sales, traders said.

• CIF Gulf corn barges loaded in April traded at 76 cents over Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn CK25 futures and were also re-bid at 76 cents over futures, up 2 cents from Monday's last bid. May corn barges traded at 75 cents over futures.

• FOB export premiums for corn shipped from the Gulf in May were about 84 cents over CBOT May futures, unchanged from Monday.

• For soybeans, CIF Gulf barges loaded in April traded at 82 cents over CBOT May SK25 soybean futures and were re-bid at 77 cents over futures, steady with Monday's last bid. May soybean barges were bid at 80 cents over futures, up a penny from Monday.

• Export premiums for soybeans loaded from the Gulf in May held steady at about 89 cents over CBOT May futures.

• Empty barges available this week on the Illinois River were offered on Tuesday at 475% of tariff, up from 450% a day earlier. On the Mississippi River at St. Louis, barges for this week were offered at 385% of tariff, up from 375% a day ago. BG/US

• Farmer sales of corn and soybeans remained light as most growers were busy with spring planting, traders said. Declines in CBOT corn Cv1 and soybean Sv1 futures also discouraged farmers from booking fresh sales. GRA/

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed private sales of 120,000 metric tons of U.S. corn to Spain and 110,000 tons of U.S. soybeans to undisclosed destinations, all for delivery in the 2024/25 marketing year that began Sept. 1, 2024.

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