CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Corn barge basis bids firm, soybean bids steady

CHICAGO, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were steady on Tuesday, while corn basis bids continued to firm, market sources said.

• Empty barge freight rates turned higher along parts of the Illinois and Ohio rivers, as well as on the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Missouri, on limited barge availability. BG/US

• Some shippers are delaying river barge loadings on Wednesday, particularly along parts of the Mississippi River, as weather forecasts call for sharply cold temperatures and high wind gusts, barge sources said.

• Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures Sv1 hit their lowest in more than a month on Tuesday, pressured by worries about the scale of Chinese demand for U.S. supplies, along with expectations of large South American harvests, traders said.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture left its U.S. soybean export forecast unchanged in a monthly report on Tuesday as sales resumed to China, which for months shunned purchases because of its trade war with Washington.

• Argentina will lower export taxes on grains including soybeans and corn, the economy minister said on Tuesday. The levy on soybean exports will be cut to 24% from 26%, Economy Minister Luis Caputo said in a post on X, while soybean byproducts will be taxed at 22.5%, down from 24.5%.

• CIF soybean barges loaded in December were bid at 75 cents over Chicago Board of Trade January soybean SF26 futures, steady from Monday. But deferred contracts slightly firmed.

• FOB export premiums for soybeans loaded in December and January were both steady at around 101 cents over CBOT January futures.

• CIF December corn barge bids firmed at 79 cents over CBOT March corn CH26 futures, as traders continued to flip-flop their bids to be against either the December CZ25 or March corn future contracts.

• FOB export premiums for December corn shipments were steady at around 105 cents over December 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