Corn, soybean barge basis mostly steady to weak

Basis bids for corn and soybeans shipped by barge to the U.S. Gulf Coast were mostly steady to lower on Thursday on slow export demand and weak river freight, traders said.

* Spot barge freight rates were steady to lower as muted grain shipper demand overshadowed river navigation problems caused by low water on the upper Mississippi River and ice buildup on the Illinois River.

* Seasonally slowing demand weighed on soybean export premiums. An accelerating harvest is allowing Brazilian exporters to offer beans at a discount to U.S. supplies.

* Chinese importers have been booking Brazilian soybean cargoes this week for March and April shipment, a trader said.

* Weekly U.S. soybean export sales released on Thursday were in line with trade expectations at 736,000 tonnes for 2022/23 marketing year shipment and 192,000 tonnes for 2023/24. Net corn sales topped estimates at 1.6 million tonnes for 2022/23 and 163,200 for 2023/24.

* Wheat basis values at the Gulf were mostly flat on dull demand as rival exporters continue to offer shipments at lower prices.

* Egypt's GASC booked 535,000 tonnes in a snap wheat tender. All of it is expected to be sourced from Russia.

* Bids for CIF soybean barges loaded in February were flat at 103 cents over Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) March (SH3) futures.

* FOB basis offers for February soybean shipments fell 5 cents to around 125 cents over March futures.

* CIF corn barges loaded in February were bid a penny lower at 85 cents over CBOT March corn (CH3) futures.

* FOB offers for February corn shipments held at around 90 cents over CBOT March futures.