Weekly Cash Comments

Grain futures came under pressure this week as US dollar strength and slow export business took its toll on the market. In the cash market, there was little movement in basis by grain buyers as a whole with U.S. average soybean basis unchanged for the week while corn basis gained only 1-cent on average across the country.

Barge rates were on the rise this week especially along the IL & MS River where gains of 10 cents or more per bushel were fairly common for barge costs. As a result, basis levels in these areas were off fairly sharply. For corn, Gulf export bids were up 4 cents a bushel which helped to blunt some of the basis declines upstream along the river system. For ethanol plants, basis gains were better than the overall U.S. average gaining 2.25 cents a bushel this week. Especially strong were some plants in the Western Cornbelt were gains of 5 to 10 cents were fairly typical at some key plants.

For soybeans, it was another week of lackluster movement in basis with U.S. average basis sitting at -43K, virtually unchanged since the start of the month. At the Gulf, export basis was up 8 cents a bushel, but higher barge costs offset this gain putting river terminal bids under pressure by 2 cents a bushel. For soybean plants, basis levels were mostly unchanged but some modest strength was apparent in the Western Cornbelt plants.

—Cody Bills