US Cash Grains-Corn, soy basis steady to mixed ahead of holiday

CHICAGO, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Spot basis bids for corn and soybeans were mostly steady on Wednesday with a few mixed changes ahead of the New Year's Day holiday, spot checks showed.

• The soybean basis improved by a nickel a bushel at a crushing facility in Lafayette, Indiana.

• Chicago Board of Trade March SH26 soybean futures fell on Wednesday for a fourth straight session, dipping to their lowest in more than two months, a factor that may have curbed farmer sales.

• A few locations have rolled their soybean basis bids to the CBOT March SH26 contract as the January contract SF26 approaches its January 14 expiration.

• The basis for both corn and soybeans declined by 2 cents a bushel at Seneca, Illinois, on the Illinois River.

• Barge freight costs rose this week on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, a factor that tends to depress basis bids at Midwest grain elevators. Empty barges were offered on the lower Ohio River on Tuesday at 525% of tariff, up from 475% a day earlier. BG/US

• CBOT soybean futures were down more than 1% late in the last trading session of the year, pressured by disappointing weekly U.S. soybean export sales and uncertainty about demand for the oilseed, analysts said. GRA/

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported net export sales of U.S. 2025-26 soybeans in the week to December 18 at 987,100 metric tons, below a range of trade expectations, while net weekly corn sales topped expectations at 2.2 million tons.

• As of 12:48 p.m. CST (1848 GMT), CBOT March soybeans SH26 were down 14-3/4 cents at $10.47-1/2 a bushel while March corn CH26 was up 1/4 cent at $4.40-3/4 a bushel. March wheat WH26 was down 4-1/4 cents at $5.06-1/2 a bushel.

Basis values are quoted against CBOT futures in cts/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-PM

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

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 PM GRA/PM

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