CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soy barge bids remain weak, FOB offers drop

CHICAGO, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Basis bids remained weak for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals on Tuesday and FOB offers fell due to the absence of Chinese buying, traders said.

• China, the world's largest soybean buyer, has turned to Brazilian cargoes amid trade tensions with the U.S. and ongoing negotiations. Chinese buyers still have not pre-purchased soybeans from the upcoming U.S. harvest, an unusual delay that has worried traders and farmers.

• China was said to have purchased more soy from Brazil and Argentina, after previously booking cargoes for September and October, a broker said.

• Several soy processors in the Midwest have also weakened their basis bids recently as crushing demand slowed ahead of the autumn harvest, with more facilities idling plants for seasonal maintenance and repairs.

• CIF Gulf soybean barges loaded in August were bid at 37 cents over Chicago Board of Trade November SX25 futures, down 2 cents from Monday. September loadings were bid at 41 cents over November futures.

• FOB export premiums for soybeans shipped from the Gulf in the first half of September were about 95 cents over November SX25 futures, down 7 cents.

• FOB export premiums for soybeans shipped from the Gulf in the last half of September were about 90 cents over November SX25 futures, down 10 cents.

• Exporters sold 228,606 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to Mexico for 2025/2026 delivery, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

• For corn, CIF Gulf barges loaded in August were bid at about 80 cents over CBOT September CU25 futures, down 3 cents. September corn barges were bid at 95 cents over futures, which was steady.

• FOB export premiums for corn shipped from the Gulf in September were steady at about 132 cents over September futures, up 4 cents.

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