Export shipments of corn, soybeans and wheat have been robust, but there was enough grain at Gulf export terminals that shippers were able to lower cash bids, grain dealers said this week.

USDA’s weekly grain inspection numbers for corn, soybeans and wheat on Tuesday topped trade forecasts and the previous week’s levels. However, inland elevators that send barges of grain to the Gulf said a backlog of barges at the Gulf created by last month’s flooding held enough grain to fill those ships, thus cash bids inched lower.

“There was plenty down there, so they got it loaded pretty fast,” said one shipper of the Gulf supplies.

USDA late on Tuesday said corn harvest as of Sunday was 14% done in both Kentucky and Tennessee and 1% done in Illinois. (Photo: iphotographer/Thinkstock)

Additional pressure came from supplies of new-crop corn being harvested in the south.

Corn for September arrival at the Gulf was bid at 52 cents over December early this week, compared with 62 over a week ago.

The availability of harvested corn also lessened demand by users in the Southeast to bring rail corn from the Midwest. As a result, local processors and nearby ethanol plants offered the best market for Midwest corn.

USDA late on Tuesday said corn harvest as of Sunday was 14% done in both Kentucky and Tennessee and 1% done in Illinois. Anecdotal reports had yields of 260 bushels or more in west central Illinois.

Soybean users dropped cash bids as the harvest gets closer. In central Illinois, some processors were bidding about 30 over the November for prompt supplies compared with 55 over a week ago.

In Iowa, the main thrust of corn harvest was about two weeks away. Elevators in that state expect the large crop will force piling corn on the ground when harvest reaches its peak.

Shipments

USDA said barge grain shipments during the weekend Aug. 27 of 920,121 million tons, down 20% from the prior week but up 177% from a year ago.

In the rail sector, grain car loadings totaled 24,944 for the week ended Aug. 20, down 1% from the prior week and up 37% from a year ago, said USDA’s Grain Transportation Report.

For truckers, the U.S. average diesel fuel price increased about 4 cents in the latest week to $2.41 per gallon for the week ended Aug. 29. That is down 10 cents from the same week last year.

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