CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Corn barge bids strengthen; soy bids mixed

CHICAGO, May 21 (Reuters) - Spot basis bids for corn barges delivered to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals firmed on Wednesday, reflecting exporter demand and a slow pace of farmer selling, traders said.

• Soybean barge bids were narrowly mixed, supported by quiet farmer sales and competition for the oilseed from domestic processors.

• At the Gulf, CIF barges loaded in May were bid at 68 cents over Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) July corn CN25 futures, up 1 cent from Tuesday. June corn barges were bid steady at 67 cents over futures.

• FOB export premiums for corn shipped from the Gulf in June were offered at about 80 cents over CBOT July corn futures, up 2 cents from Tuesday.

• For soybeans, CIF barges loaded in May were bid at 63 cents over CBOT July SN25 soybean futures, down 1 cent from Tuesday. June soy barges were bid at 68 cents over futures, up 2 cents.

• July soybean barges traded at 71 cents over futures, up 2 cents from Monday's trades.

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

• Ahead of Thursday's weekly export sales report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, analysts expected the government to report U.S. sales of old-crop corn in the week to May 15 at 700,000 to 1,600,000 metric tons and new-crop sales of 50,000 to 500,000 tons.

• Old-crop soybean sales were seen at 100,000 to 300,000 tons, while new-crop sales were estimated at 90,000 to 400,000 tons.

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