CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soybean, corn barge bids mostly steady-firmer

CHICAGO, May 14 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans and corn delivered by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were mostly steady to firmer on Wednesday, and farmer sales of both crops into marketing channels that feed the Gulf remained slow, traders said.

• CIF Gulf soybean barges loaded in May were bid at 64 cents over Chicago Board of Trade July SN25 soybean futures, up 2 cents from Tuesday, while June soy barges were bid at 66 cents over futures, down a penny.

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

• For corn, CIF Gulf barges loaded in May were bid at 65 cents over CBOT July corn CN25 futures, unchanged from Tuesday. June corn barges were also bid at 65 cents over futures, up 1 cent from a day ago.

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

• Ahead of Thursday's weekly export sales report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, traders expected the government to report export sales of U.S. old-crop corn in the week ended May 8 at 900,000 to 1,500,000 metric tons and new-crop sales of 350,000 to 600,000 tons.

• Traders estimated weekly sales of old-crop soybeans at 200,000 to 500,000 tons and new-crop sales of 350,000 to 500,000 tons. They estimated sales new-crop U.S. wheat at 350,000 to 600,000 tons.

• U.S. soybean exports may drop 20% and prices will plunge if the United States and China fail to resolve their trade dispute limiting U.S. soybeans from their largest market, agribusiness consultancy AgResource said.

• The temporary truce in the U.S.-China trade war, announced on Monday, would not help U.S. farmers revive soy sales in China because Chinese duties, even reduced to 10% from 145%, remained too high to make U.S. soybeans competitive, analysts and exporters said on the sidelines of the GrainCom conference in Geneva.

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