CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soy barge bids flat as China remains absent from market

CHICAGO, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans delivered by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were largely flat on Thursday as China remained absent from the market, traders said.

• Escalating Washington-Beijing trade tensions continue to shut U.S. supplies out of China, which has turned to South America for supplies this year.

• China has yet to secure much of its soybean supply for December and January as high premiums for Brazilian cargoes discourage buyers, a development that could prompt Beijing to tap state reserves to meet near-term needs, three trade sources said.

• U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the government was seeking to open new markets for U.S. crops so the country was not overly reliant on Chinese buying.

• "We're actually in discussions with some South American countries to do some crushing there for our soybeans and others," she said, according to a video on C-SPAN. She did not provide details.

• CIF basis bids for October soybean barges were about 73 cents over Chicago Board of Trade November SX25 futures. November barges were bid at 74 cents over futures. Both were unchanged from Wednesday.

• FOB export premiums for October-loaded soybeans were steady at about 78 cents over futures.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture has temporarily stopped issuing weekly export sales data on Thursdays due to the federal government's shutdown.

• Analysts estimated U.S. soybean export sales were 900,000 to 2 million metric tons in the week that ended on October 9, according to a Reuters poll. U.S. corn export sales were estimated at 500,000 to 1.4 million metric tons.

• CIF corn basis bids for October barges were about 77 cents over CBOT December CZ25 futures, which were flat. November barge loadings were bid a penny lower at 77 cents over futures.

• FOB export premiums for October corn shipments were steady at about 93 cents over futures.

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