Basis bids for soybeans and corn shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were mostly flat on Friday in thin trade following the Christmas holiday, traders said.

Barge freight values were steady but traffic on the lower Mississippi River has been slowed all week by foggy conditions, traders said, delaying shipments and limiting supplies of empty barges.

The National Weather Service posted dense fog advisories on Friday afternoon for the Gulf Coast area surrounding New Orleans, Louisiana.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture made no export sales announcements under its daily reporting rules. Federal agencies were closed on Friday by an executive order signed earlier this month by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The USDA is scheduled to release its next weekly export sales report, covering the week ended December 18, on Wednesday, December 31.

CIF bids for Gulf soybean barges loaded in December were steady at 93 cents over Chicago Board of Trade January soybean (SF26) futures. CIF bids for January loadings were down a penny from Wednesday at 96 cents over futures.

FOB offers for vessels loaded from the Gulf in January held steady at about 110 cents over CBOT January futures, and offers for February shipments were steady at around 105 cents over March (SH26) futures.

For corn, CIF Gulf December barges were unchanged at 80 cents over CBOT March corn (CH26) futures, while January bids fell 2 cents to 81 cents over futures.

FOB export premiums for January corn shipments were flat at around 97 cents over March futures.
Source: Reuters