CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Corn, soybean barge basis turned higher in thin holiday trade

CHICAGO, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans and corn shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals turned higher on Monday, in thin trade ahead of the New Year's Day holiday, traders said.

• Chicago grain and oilseed futures fell on Monday, as market players weighed how markets would be affected by news from Russia, Ukraine and China, according to analysts.

• China launched extensive war games around Taiwan to show Beijing's ability to cut off the island from outside support in a conflict, testing Taipei's resolve to defend itself and its arsenal of U.S.-made weapons - and news that could threaten the U.S.-China trade truce, market analysts said.

• Traffic on the lower Mississippi River has been slowed by cold temperatures, foggy conditions and high winds, which has delayed shipments and limited supplies of empty barges, according to the National Weather Service and market analysts.

• Exporters sold 100,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to Egypt for delivery in the 2025/2026 marketing year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday. Federal agencies were closed on Friday by an executive order signed earlier this month by U.S. President Donald Trump.

• The USDA reported U.S. soybean export inspections were about 750,312 metric tons in the week ended on December 25, at the low end of analyst expectations.

• USDA also reported weekly U.S. corn export inspections for the week ended December 25 at 1,301,211 metric tons, down from 1,747,372 metric tons last week, but up from 907,565 metric tons at this time last year.

• CIF bids for Gulf soybean barges loaded in December were up 6 cents at 99 cents a bushel over Chicago Board of Trade January soybean SF26 futures. CIF bids for January loadings rose 6 cents at 102 cents over futures.

• FOB offers for vessels loaded from the Gulf in January held steady at about 110 cents over CBOT January futures, and offers for February shipments were steady at around 105 cents over March SH26 futures.

• For corn, CIF Gulf December barges were up 2 cents at 82 cents over CBOT March corn CH26 futures, while January bids firmed 1 cent to 82 cents over futures.

• FOB export premiums for January corn shipments were flat at around 97 cents over March 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