CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Soybean basis steady on Chinese demand

CHICAGO, July 20 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were steady on Monday after Chinese importers continued to make purchases, traders said.

• Exporters sold 264,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to China and 110,000 metric tons to unknown destinations, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its daily reporting system.

• The sales confirmed rumors in the market from Friday about Chinese buying, traders said. They added that there was talk of purchases from Friday morning to Monday.

• U.S. sales to China, the world's biggest soybean importer, have picked up over the last two weeks.

• Improved demand helped lift Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures Sv1 to two-month high as traders monitored U.S. crop weather.

• The USDA increased its good-to-excellent rating for the U.S. soybean crop by one percentage point in a weekly progress report.

• CIF soybean barges loaded in July were bid at 105 cents over Chicago Board of Trade August soybean futures SQ26.

• FOB offers for August soybean shipments from the Gulf of Mexico were at 121 cents over CBOT August futures.

• CIF corn barges loaded in July were around 101 cents over CBOT September futures CN26. August corn barges were also bid at about 101 cents over futures.

• FOB export premiums for Gulf corn vessels loaded in August were offered at about 113 cents over September futures.

• Exporters sold 100,000 metric tons of U.S. corn to Colombia, the USDA said in its daily reporting system.

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

(Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

((Thomas.Polansek@thomsonreuters.com))