CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soy barge basis dips, traders watch for China demand

CHICAGO, March 12 (Reuters) - Spot basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals eased on Thursday amid uncertainty about demand from China, traders said.

• U.S. soybean export demand was seasonally slow as cheaper supplies of newly harvested beans were available from Brazil.

• Traders have been looking for potential U.S. sales to China ahead of a summit planned between U.S. President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping this month.

• Brazilian trade groups Abiove and Anec said they were "concerned" and closely following recent developments related to soybean exports to China, after Cargill said on Wednesday it halted shipments to the Asian country due to Brazil inspection changes.

• U.S. soybean export sales for 2025/26 were 456,700 metric tons in the week that ended on March 5, down 2% from the prior four-week average, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

• Season-to-date sales remain nearly 19% below a year ago.

• CIF Gulf soybean barges loaded in March traded at 68 cents over Chicago Board of Trade May SK26 soybean futures. On Wednesday, they were bid at 69 cents over futures.

• Barges loaded in April were bid around 74 cents over futures, down about 3 cents.

• FOB export premiums for soybeans loaded from the Gulf in March were around 115 cents over futures.

• For corn, USDA reported weekly U.S. export sales of 1.5 million metric tons for 2025/26, down 4% from the prior four-week average.

• CIF Gulf corn barges loaded in March were bid at 78 cents over CBOT May CK26 futures, and April barges were bid at 79 cents. Both were steady from Wednesday.

• FOB corn export premiums for March corn loadings were around 105 cents over May CK26 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