CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soybean barge bids strengthen

CHICAGO, March 25 (Reuters) - Spot basis bids of soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals rose on Wednesday, bouncing after declines a day ago and defying pressure from cheaper freight costs on Midwest rivers.

• Empty barges on the Mississippi River at St. Louis for this week were offered at 465% of tariff, down from 485% a day earlier. BG/US

• CIF Gulf soybean barges loaded in March were bid at 68 cents over Chicago Board of Trade May SK26 soybean futures, up 7 cents from Tuesday. April barges were bid at 72 cents over futures, also up 7 cents.

• FOB export premiums of April soybean loadings held at 97 cents over futures.

• For corn, CIF Gulf barges loaded in March were bid at 83 cents over CBOT May CK26 futures, up 2 cents from Tuesday, and April corn barges were unchanged at 82 cents over futures.

• FOB Gulf corn offers for vessels loaded in April were unchanged at 95 cents over futures.

• Ahead of Thursday's weekly export sales report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, analysts expected the government to report U.S. corn sales in the week ended March 19 at 700,000-1.5 million metric tons.

• Analysts expected weekly soybean export sales of 200,000-500,000 tons and wheat sales of 100,000-400,000 tons.

• Traders await the USDA's March 31 U.S. planting intentions and quarterly stocks reports. Analysts surveyed by Reuters on average projected U.S. 2026 corn plantings at 94.4 million acres, down from 98.8 million in 2025, and soybean seedings at 85.5 million acres, up from the 81.2 million acres planted last year.