CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Corn, soy barge bids flat ahead of long US weekend

CHICAGO, May 23 (Reuters) - Basis bids for corn and soybeans delivered by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were mostly steady on Friday, supported by a generally quiet pace of farmer selling ahead of a three-day weekend, traders said.

• U.S. markets and most government offices will be closed on Monday in observance of Memorial Day.

• At the Gulf on Friday, CIF corn barges loaded in May were bid at 69 cents over Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) July corn CN25 futures and June corn barges were bid at 68 cents over futures, both unchanged from Thursday.

• FOB export premiums for corn shipped from the Gulf in June held steady at about 80 cents over CBOT July futures.

• For soybeans, CIF barges loaded in May were bid at 62 cents over CBOT July SN25 soybean futures, unchanged from Thursday, while June soy barges were bid at 67 cents over futures, down a penny from Thursday.

• FOB export premiums for soybeans loaded from the Gulf in June were nominally offered around 78 cents over July futures but suppliers had little available until late August, traders said.

• Farmer sales of old- and new-crop corn and soy increased slightly toward week's end as growers in some areas wrapped up spring planting, but the movement of grain from the country into river elevators remained quiet overall, traders said, a factor that kept a floor under Gulf basis bids.

• In global trade, Iraq has procured more than 2 million tons of local wheat in the current harvest that started in April, the director general of Iraq's grain board told Reuters.

• Crop ratings for France's main wheat crop fell last week while spring barley conditions deteriorated sharply, farm office FranceAgriMer reported, as dry weather persisted in portions of the EU's biggest grain producer.

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