US Cash Grains-Corn, soy basis bids flat-mixed, farmer sales sluggish

CHICAGO, Dec 19 (Reuters) - U.S. corn basis bids were mostly flat at elevators and processors in the Midwest on Friday, while soybean bids were steady to mixed, grain brokers said.

• Farmer selling was generally slow this week due to weak prices, a broker said. Corn sales in the western Midwest were heavier than in the eastern Midwest, he said.

• Farmer sales could increase in January, though low prices and financial payouts from the federal government may limit selling, brokers said.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture is not considering issuing more farm aid beyond its recently announced $12 billion package meant to help farmers weather poor economic conditions, said Richard Fordyce, the agency's under secretary for farm production and conservation.

• On the Chicago Board of Trade, March corn futures CH26 were expected to trade largely sideways heading into the end of the year, brokers said.

• The contract ended down 3/4 cent at $4.43-3/4 per bushel on Friday.

• Soybean futures Sv1 also slumped on the CBOT and set their lowest price since October 24.

Basis values are quoted against CBOT futures in cents/bu:

NOTE: 0 = Option Price, UNC = Unchanged, UNQ = Unquoted, NC = Not Comparable, DP = Delayed Price, N/A = Not Available, F = January, H = March, K = May, N = July, Q = August, U = September, X = November, Z = December

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LINKS: 0#USCSHGRN-AM

For U.S. forward basis spreadsheets, please click on:

CORN/BASIS, SOYA/BASIS, WHEAT/BASIS, MILO/BASIS

- CBOT corn report COR/

- CBOT soybean report SOY/C

- CBOT wheat report WHE/C

- U.S. grain barge freight values BG/US

- U.S. Midwest cash grain AM GRA/M

- U.S. CIF/FOB Gulf Grain GRA/F