CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Corn barge bids mostly steady to lower

CHICAGO, May 28 (Reuters) - Basis bids for corn delivered by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were mostly steady to lower on Wednesday, traders said.

• U.S. corn export sales are beginning to slow after demand has been strong, brokers said, noting that some Asian buyers are increasingly booking Brazilian corn from July forward.

• Taiwan's MFIG purchasing group bought about 65,000 metric tons of animal feed corn expected to be sourced from Brazil in an international tender, European traders said.

• MFIG bought the corn at an estimated premium of 165.90 U.S. cents a bushel, cost and freight (c&f) included, over Chicago Board of Trade December corn futures CZ25, traders said. The lowest offer for U.S. corn was believed to be 175.00 cents over futures, they said.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture will issue weekly U.S. export sales data for grains and soybeans on Friday, one day later than normal.

• CIF corn barges loaded in May were bid at 68 cents over CBOT July corn futures CN25, down a penny from Tuesday. June corn barges were bid at 68 cents over futures, which was flat.

• FOB export premiums for corn shipped from the Gulf in June were about 78 cents over CBOT July corn futures, which was steady.

• For soybeans, CIF barges loaded in May were bid at 64 cents over CBOT July SN25 soybean futures, up 1 cent from Tuesday. June soy barges were bid steady at 67 cents over futures.

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

• In a weekly crop progress report released on Tuesday, the USDA said U.S. farmers had planted 87% of their intended corn acres by Sunday and 76% of their soybeans.

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