CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soybean, corn basis bids stay mostly steady

CHICAGO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans and corn shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were largely steady on Tuesday, traders said.

• Soybean demand from top importer China was quiet, with many traders expected to be absent from the market this week due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

• Brazil's ongoing soy harvest increases competition for global export sales, traders said.

• Brazilian farmers had harvested 21% of their crop as of last Thursday, according to consultancy AgRural.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that about 1.2 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans and 1.5 million metric tons of U.S. corn were inspected for export last week.

• Analysts had estimated weekly export inspections were 820,000 to 1.25 million metric tons for soybeans and 860,000 to 1.3 million metric tons for corn.

• Larger-than-expected U.S. soybean crushings in January fueled expectations among traders that the USDA may tighten its carryover outlook.

• CIF Gulf soybean barges loaded in February and March were steady at 104 cents over Chicago Board of Trade March SH26 futures.

• FOB premiums for February and March soybean export loadings were flat at about 130 cents over March futures.

• CIF corn barges loaded in February were bid at 101 cents over CBOT March CH26 corn futures, which was unchanged. March barges were 98 cents over futures, which was also steady.

• FOB corn export premiums for February remained around 127 cents over March futures, while March offers were unchanged at around 125 cents over 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