CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soybean basis mixed, China demand lifts spring-shipment values

CHICAGO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were mixed on Friday following gains earlier in the week, with bids for some early spring loadings supported by strong exporter demand amid new sales to China, traders said.

• Chinese state stockpiler Sinograin bought at least 10 cargoes of U.S. soybeans on Friday for shipment in April and May, traders said. The bulk of the purchases were for shipment from Gulf Coast terminals.

• Near-daily soybean purchases by China this week have supported basis values. China is estimated to have booked around 10 million metric tons or more in the current marketing year so far, nearing a target of 12 million tons purchased by the end of February, traders and analysts said.

• Export premiums at the Gulf were propped up by strong demand and tight near-term loading capacity. Many exporters were not quoting January loadings due to a lack of capacity and some were also not quoting February loadings, traders said.

• CIF bids for Gulf soybean barges loaded in January were steady at 90 cents over CBOT March soybean SH26 futures and February barges were bid a penny lower at 91 cents over futures.

• FOB Gulf offers for vessels loaded in February were 3 cents higher at about 116 cents over March futures, and offers for March shipments were up 5 cents at 110 cents over futures.

• CIF corn basis values were flat to weaker on Friday as good farmer sales swelled supplies in the export pipeline, traders said.

• CIF Gulf January corn barges were bid steady at 84 cents over CBOT March corn CH26 futures, while February bids fell 1 cent to 88 cents over futures.

• FOB export premiums for February corn shipments were up 3 cents at 108 cents over March futures, dealers said.

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