Some soyabean export sales to China have already been switched from Gulf shipment to the Pacific Northwest, a trader said. He could not confirm the volume of sales that had been switched, but that it was at least two cargoes. A small number of December-loaded CIF soyabean barges traded as high as 119 cents per bushel over Chicago Board of Trade January futures. Late bids were 116 over, up 4 cents from Wednesday.
FOB offers for Gulf soyabean shipments through late January were about 130 cents a bushel over CBOT January, up 2 cents from Wednesday and up about 16 cents from a week ago. Late February and March shipments were at a discount as some South American new-crop supplies should be available by then. US soyabean export sales last week topped 1.1 million tonnes, a nine-week high, USDA data showed.
Corn export premiums at the Gulf were mostly flat on slow export demand amid uncompetitive prices, traders said. Export sales of US corn last week were the lowest in eight weeks. US wheat export premiums were mostly steady at the Gulf Coast. Soft red winter wheat prices were competitive in the world market but demand was minimal. Hard red winter wheat prices uncompetitive but demand for hard milling wheat was solid.