CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Corn and soybean barge basis bids tick higher

CHICAGO, April 30 (Reuters) - Basis bids for corn and soybeans delivered by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals ticked higher on Wednesday, as freight costs remained elevated and exporter demand for corn was steady, traders said.

• CIF Gulf corn barges loaded in May traded at 75 cents over Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn CK25 futures and were re-bid at 76 cents over futures - up 1 cent from Tuesday.

• FOB export premiums for corn shipped from the Gulf in May were about 85 cents over CBOT May futures, up 1 cent.

• For soybeans, CIF Gulf barges loaded in May also traded at 81 cents over CBOT May SK25 soybean futures and were re-bid at 81 cents over futures - up 1 cent from Tuesday.

• Export premiums for soybeans loaded from the Gulf in May were up 2 cents at about 91 cents over CBOT May futures.

• Empty barges available this week on the Illinois River continued to edge higher for bids through June, as shippers are looking to cover needs going into May, brokers said.

• But on the Mississippi River at St. Louis, barges for this week began to steady - offered at 385% of tariff, up from 375% on Monday. BG/US

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

• That announcement follows other recent purchases by Spain and Mexico. USDA is slated to issue weekly grain and soybean export sales data on Thursday.

• The Korea Feed Association in South Korea also is believed to have purchased about 65,000 metric tons of animal feed corn expected to be sourced from the United States in a private deal on Wednesday, European traders said.

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