CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Corn barge bids steady, underpinned by exporter demand

CHICAGO, May 15 (Reuters) - Basis bids for corn delivered by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals held steady on Thursday, underpinned by brisk exporter demand for the feed grain, while soybean barge bids ticked lower, traders said.

• CIF Gulf corn barges loaded in May were bid at 65 cents over Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) July corn CN25 futures, unchanged from Wednesday. June corn barges were also bid steady at 65 cents over futures.

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

• For soybeans, CIF Gulf barges loaded in May were bid at 62 cents over CBOT July SN25 soybean futures, down 2 cents from Wednesday, and June soy barges were bid at 65 cents over futures, down 1 cent.

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

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported export sales of U.S. old-crop corn in the week ended May 8 at 1.677 million metric tons, topping a range of trade estimates for 900,000 to 1.5 millions, and weekly new-crop corn sales totaled 508,900 tons. South Korea and Mexico were the week's top buyers. EXP/CORN

• The USDA reported weekly sales of old-crop soybeans at 282,400 tons, in line with trade expectations, and new-crop soybean sales totaled 490,300 tons, near the high end of expectations.

• Weekly export sales of U.S. old-crop wheat totaled 58,600 tons while new-crop U.S. wheat sales totaled 746,200 tons, above a range of trade expectations for 350,000 to 600,000 tons. EXP/WHE

• Brazilian national crop agency Conab raised its estimate of Brazil's 2024/25 soybean crop to 168.34 million metric tons, from 167.87 million previously. Conab also raised its estimate of the country's total 2024/25 corn output to 126.87 million tons, from 124.74 million last month.

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