CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Corn, soy barge bids hold steady

CHICAGO, May 9 (Reuters) - Basis bids for corn and soybeans delivered by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals held steady on Friday, underpinned by fresh export sales of both crops and a slow pace of farmer grain offerings as producers focused on spring planting, traders said.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture, under its daily reporting rules, confirmed private sales of 288,000 metric tons of corn to Mexico. The announcement followed a similar sale of U.S. corn to Mexico that was issued on Thursday.

• The USDA also confirmed private sales of 120,000 tons of U.S. soybeans to Pakistan, the second sale to Pakistan in as many days.

• At the Gulf on Friday, CIF corn barges loaded in May were bid at 64 cents over Chicago Board of Trade July corn CN25 futures, unchanged from Thursday. June corn barge bid also held at 64 cents over July futures.

• FOB export premiums for corn shipped from the Gulf in June were offered at about 76 cents over CBOT July corn futures, down 2 cents from Thursday.

• CIF Gulf soybean barges loaded in May were bid at 64 cents over CBOT July SN25 soybean futures, unchanged from Thursday, and June soy barges were bid at 66 cents over futures.

• FOB export premiums for soybeans loaded from the Gulf in June were about 79 cents over July soybean futures, steady with Thursday.

• Grain traders await news from U.S.-China trade talks scheduled for Saturday in Switzerland. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and chief trade negotiator Jamieson Greer will meet China's economic tsar He Lifeng for weekend talks that could be the first step toward resolving a trade war disrupting the global economy.

• Brokers also await the USDA's monthly supply/demand report on Monday in which the agency will release its first official U.S. and global grain forecasts for the 2025/26 crop year.

• Analysts surveyed by Reuters on average projected that the USDA would lower its forecast of 2024/25 corn ending stocks to 1.443 billion bushels, from 1.465 billion last month. But analysts also projected that corn stocks would rise to 2.020 billion bushels by the end of 2025/26.

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