Grain basis found some upside this week with corn advancing 2.2 cents on average for the week while soybeans garnered a 2.5 cent move higher.
Corn found strength as farmers stay tied to their planters which limited pipeline supplies. Areas of Western Kansas continued to show some buoyancy as for the 2nd week in a row the region showed strong basis gains. Also, river terminals along the MS/IL river system were also generally higher with gains of 3 to 5 cents on the week being fairly typical, and on average river buyers were up 3.5 cents. Ethanol plants as a group managed only a 1.5 cent advance on the week although some facilities did record 5 to 8 cent gains.
For soybeans, basis levels were also generally higher albeit with soy crushing plants doing most of the higher bidding this week with a collective 3.2-cent gain for the week. There were a fair number of Western Cornbelt plants raising their basis by a dime. River terminals, on the other hand were bucking the overall trend as finished the week about 1-cent lower. The late week selloff in bean futures seemed to trigger a risk-off attitude as river buyers became wary of slowing exports in the face of Brazil’s sharp currency devaluation on Tuesday.
The corn competition landscape saw only modest changes this week as ADM Cedar Rapids won back its territory by bidding up basis a nickel on the week to -10N. ADM Columbus used a basis improvement on Thursday to -16N to improve its drawing area after slipping in size early in the week.
Soybean competition was mostly stable in IA/IL this week as plants here mostly kept basis unchanged. However, ADM Deerfield, MO bumped its basis by a dime to -10N, helping expand the plant’s drawing region into Eastern KS.
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