Corn and soybean barges destined for Gulf export points are being loaded this week on the mid-Mississippi as the recent surge in crop prices have made it easy to buy crops for shipping, grain dealers said.

“We continue to be close basis wise to the processor, so we continue to buy corn and soybeans,” said one shipper based in the Quad Cities.

The corn basis there this week was 7 under the CBOT July for May, June and July delivery, while soybeans were 24 under for May and 14 under for June. Because of the higher futures in the past month, the area’s average spot cash bid for corn is up about 37 cents a bushel and up about $1.25 for soybeans.  

The expanded section of the Panama Canal is expected to open in late June, with regular commercial transits beginning June 27. (Photo: Viaggiare/Thinkstock)

More than 796,000 metric tons of grain was shipped by barge during the week ended April 23, up 17% from the prior week and up 16% from a year ago, USDA’s Grain Transportation Report said.

The Quad Cities shipper said that despite the recent widespread rainfall, including 1-1/2 inches locally on Sunday, water levels on the Mississippi River were manageable and barge loadings continued.

Barge rates were lower throughout the river markets, with rates on the upper-Mississippi down 8 percentage points, down 5 on the Mid-Mississippi, down 27 near St. Louis and down 20 on the lower Illinois.

In other export news, the Grain Transportation Report said the long-awaited opening of expanded section of the Panama Canal will occur in late June, with inauguration on June 26 and regular commercial transits beginning the next day.

For truckers, the U.S. average diesel fuel price increased a few cents to $2.198 a gallon in the week ended April 25, but that is down nearly 62 cents from the same week last year.

In central Illinois, ethanol plants were buying corn and were competitive bidders with the southeast rail market. Trains of corn continued to go the southeast from central Illinois and from central Iowa.

In the Midwest, farmers continued to sell modest amounts of corn and soybeans, which included pricing small amounts of new-crop supplies. Planting has largely been at a standstill since early last week because of the rain.

Planting could resume in parts of the Midwest by mid to late week, but the latest forecasts show rain lingering of the Midwest through Thursday. The 6- to 10-day outlook (May 8-12) favors mostly normal precipitation for the region in that period. Although above-normal chances for precipitation remain then for Missouri and southern Iowa.

USDA late on Monday said 45% of the corn was planted, with 13% emerged, while 8% of the soybeans were planted. The corn planting matched last year, but was ahead of the 30% average. Soybeans were down from last year’s 10% and up from the 6% average.

USDA’s weekly export inspections on Monday had corn shipments at 45.6 million bushels, up from 45.1.3 million a week ago and topped the 38.8 million pace needed to meet USDA’s annual forecast. Mexico, Colombia and Peru were the leading destinations.

Soybean shipments of 5.6 million bushels were down from the prior week and under the pace needed to meet USDA’s annual forecast. Venezuela and Japan were the leading destinations.

Wheat shipments of 13.1 million bushels were down from a week ago and less than the 19.7 million needed to meet USDA’s annual forecast. Japan, Nigeria and China were the leading destinations.

Weekly Grain Movement - April 26, 2016 - Farmers sell in up market, stop selling in down market

Weekly Grain Movement - April 18, 2016 - Farmers sell on higher crop market, planting underway