CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soybean barge bids soften as CBOT futures surge

CHICAGO, May 12 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans delivered by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals ticked lower on Monday as Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures Sv1 jumped nearly 2% on news of a U.S.-China agreement to temporarily slash tariffs, traders said.

• Under the temporary truce, the U.S. will cut extra tariffs it imposed on Chinese imports last month from 145% to 30% for the next three months, the two sides said, while Chinese duties on U.S. imports will fall to 10% from 125%.

• China is by far the world's largest soybean buyer.

• At the Gulf on Monday, CIF soybean barges loaded in May were bid at 60 cents over Chicago Board of Trade July SN25 soybean futures, down 4 cents from Friday, and June soy barges were bid at 64 cents over futures, down 2 cents.

• FOB export premiums for soybeans loaded from the Gulf in June were offered about 77 cents over July soybean futures, down 2 cents from Friday.

• For corn, CIF Gulf barges loaded in May and June were both bid at 64 cents over CBOT July corn CN25 futures, unchanged from Friday.

• FOB export premiums for corn shipped from the Gulf in June were offered at about 75 cents over CBOT July corn futures, down a penny from Friday.

• Along with the U.S.-China tariff news, CBOT soybean futures drew additional support from supportive data in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's monthly supply/demand report. The USDA's forecasts of U.S. old-crop and new-crop soybean ending stocks fell below trade expectations.

• CBOT corn futures fell despite smaller-than-expected forecasts for U.S. new- and old-crop corn ending stocks.

• A brisk U.S. planting pace hung over the futures market, capping rallies. The USDA said the U.S. corn crop was 62% seeded as of Sunday, ahead of the five-year average for this time of year of 56%, and soybean planting was 48% complete, ahead of the five-year average of 37%.

• The USDA reported export inspections of U.S. corn in the latest week at 1,224,087 metric tons, toward the low end of trade expectations for 1,000,000-1,750,000 tons.

• Soybean export inspections totaled 426,077 tons and wheat inspections totaled 405,170 tons, both in line with expectations. USDA/I

• Under its daily reporting rules, the USDA confirmed private sales of 120,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to Mexico.

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