CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Corn barge bids ease; farmer sales slow

CHICAGO, April 30 (Reuters) - Spot basis bids for corn shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals softened slightly on Thursday but export premiums firmed, reflecting exporter demand and a slowdown in farmer grain sales after a flurry of offerings earlier this week, traders said.

• At the Gulf, CIF corn barges loaded in May traded at 95 cents over CBOT May CK26 corn futures, down a penny from Wednesday's trades. May corn barges were re-bid at 94 cents over futures, down 1 cent from Wednesday's last bid.

• FOB export premiums for Gulf corn vessels loaded in June were around 103 cents over CBOT July CN26 futures, up 3 cents from Wednesday.

• For soybeans, CIF Gulf barges loaded in May traded at 80 cents over CBOT July SN26 futures and were re-bid at 78 cents over futures.

• FOB export premiums for June soybean vessels held steady at around 96 cents over July SN26 futures.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported net export sales of U.S. old-crop corn in the week to April 23 at 1,597,800 metric tons, in line with trade expectations for 1,000,000 to 1,900,000 tons.

• The USDA reported weekly net export sales of old-crop U.S. soybeans at 258,100 tons, toward the low end of trade expectations for 200,000 to 600,000 tons.

• Some Asian and European markets will be closed on Friday for public holidays.

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