US average corn and soybean basis was mostly unchanged this week, but there were big differences across the country depending on proximity to the rivers.
For corn, the river markets were hit hard with 8-cent losses on average tied to a dime discount at the Gulf export market. Barge rates did manage to move lower this week as flooding concerns waned and barge movement started to improve. For beans the draw-down in basis was less noticeable with river terminals down 4 cents on average and the Gulf down 8 cents.
End users of grain were mostly steady this week. However, there were modest improvements in the Central and Northern Plains. Corn Plants in SD improved basis on average by 2 cents a bushel.
With corn futures backing down this week we would expected to see basis levels start to firm. End buyer demand across livestock, exports and processing is rock solid so with spring fieldwork around the corner the next few weeks could be important to keep pipelines full.
The risk of trading futures, hedging, and speculating can be substantial. Grain Hedge is a Branch of Foremost Trading LLC (NFA ID: 0307930)
