CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soy basis bids flat, China demand stays quiet
CHICAGO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Basis bids stayed largely steady for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals as demand was quiet from top importer China on Thursday, traders said.
China has not shown interest in buying U.S. soybeans this week during the Lunar New Year holiday, they said.
Traders will watch to see whether Chinese demand picks up next week. They will also examine U.S. export sales data on Friday to assess the supplies that China bought in the week that ended on February 12.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture was expected to report that 2025/26 U.S. soybean export sales were 375,000 to 1.2 million metric tons in the week that ended on February 12, according to a Reuters poll of analysts. They estimated weekly 2025/26 U.S. corn export sales at 600,000 to 2.2 million metric tons.
Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures on Thursday hovered near a three-month high as projections of Chinese buying and a strong U.S. soybean crush provided support.GRA/
CIF Gulf soybean barges loaded in February and March were bid at 104 cents over Chicago Board of Trade March SH26 futures, unchanged from Wednesday.
FOB premiums for February and March soybean export loadings were around 130 cents over March futures, which were also steady.
CIF corn barges loaded in February were bid at 103 cents over CBOT March CH26 corn futures, while March barges were 100 cents over futures. Both were unchanged from Wednesday.
FOB corn export premiums for February were around 127 cents over March futures, while March offers were 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
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