CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soybean barge bids stabilize after recent drop

CHICAGO, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were mostly steady on Wednesday after a recent slide fueled by a lack of Chinese buying, traders said.

• FOB offers extended a decline.

• China, the world's biggest soybean importer, has bought soybeans from South America during its trade dispute with the United States and not booked U.S. new-crop soy in an unusual delay.

• Agricultural export firm Bunge BG.N told Reuters it diverted a shipment of Argentine soybean meal that was destined for China to another destination "for commercial reasons".

• Traders said they did not expect to see U.S. soy export sales to China in a weekly U.S. Department of Agriculture report due on Thursday.

• The USDA is expected to report that 2025-26 U.S. soybean export sales in the week ended on August 14 were 400,000 to 1 million metric tons, analysts said. They projected weekly U.S. corn export sales of 900,000 to 2 million metric tons for 2025-26.

• CIF Gulf soybean barges loaded in August were bid at 37 cents over Chicago Board of Trade November SX25 futures, which was steady from Tuesday. September loadings were bid at 42 cents over November futures, up 1 cent.

• FOB export premiums for soybeans shipped from the Gulf in the first half of September were about 90 cents over November SX25 futures, down 5 cents.

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

• FOB export premiums for corn shipped from the Gulf in September remained at about 132 cents over September futures.

• Exporters sold 100,000 metric tons of U.S. corn to Colombia and 125,741 metric tons of U.S. corn to Mexico, all for 2025-26 delivery, the USDA said via a daily reporting system.

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