CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soy barge bids firm as freight costs tick higher

CHICAGO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals firmed on Thursday, with freight costs inching higher at some Midwest river locations, but export premiums for soybeans loaded out of the Gulf declined, traders said.

• CIF Gulf soybean barges loaded in September were bid at around 52 cents over Chicago Board of Trade November SX25 futures, up 4 cents from Wednesday.

• FOB export premiums for soybeans shipped from the Gulf in October fell to around 77 cents over November futures, down a nickel from Wednesday. Top global soy buyer China continues to shun U.S. supplies and book South American soy instead, anchoring FOB soybean offers, traders said.

• For corn, Gulf barge bids improved. CIF September corn barges were bid at 72 cents over CBOT December CZ25 corn futures, up 3 cents from Wednesday.

• FOB export premiums for corn shipped from the Gulf in October held steady at around 100 cents over December futures.

• Freight costs had a firm tone. Spot offers for empty barges on the Illinois River rose to 650% of tariff, from 625% a day earlier. Offers on the Memphis-to-Cairo segment of the Mississippi River rose to 600% of tariff, from 550% on Wednesday. BG/US

• Traders continue to monitor falling river levels on the Mississippi River that could complicate barge movement in the coming weeks, just as the harvest ramps up.

• Ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report, delayed to Friday by Monday's federal holiday, traders expected the government to report sales of new-crop U.S. corn in the week to August 28 at up to 2.2 million metric tons, and new-crop soybean sales at up to 1.6 million tons.

• Market players continue to assess the size of the U.S. 2025 corn and soybean crops ahead of the USDA's September 12 monthly report. Commodity brokerage StoneX lowered its estimate of the average U.S. corn yield to 186.9 bushels per acre from its previous projection of 188.1 bpa, released on August 4.

• For soybeans, StoneX lowered its yield forecast to 53.2 bpa from its August 4 figure of 53.6.

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