CHICAGO, July 28 (Reuters) – Export premiums for corn and soybeans held mostly steady at U.S. ports on Monday as international buyers delayed purchases after futures for the crops posted their biggest gains in weeks on worries that dry weather could hamper yields, traders said.
* Buyers such as top global soy importer China were said to have started the week on the sidelines amid a 2 percent jump in soybean futures and a 1 percent gain in corn futures . Very limited loading availability at elevators along the U.S. Gulf Coast and Pacific Northwest during the upcoming autumn harvest underpinned the premiums despite a slow pace of buying on Monday, the traders said.
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* Export premiums for soft red winter wheat were firm for shipments in August and September, with the already sizable book of shipments for soybeans and corn leaving little room for wheat loadings, the traders said.
* The U.S. Agriculture Department early on Monday announced a sale of 486,000 tonnes of soybeans to China for delivery during the 2014/15 marketing season that begins on Sept. 1. The sale was the 10th such announcement this month and the 12th largest one-day sale of soybeans in USDA records.
* USDA additionally said that Nigeria bought 101,000 tonnes of wheat – 61,000 tonnes hard red winter wheat and 40,000 tonnes soft red winter wheat – for delivery during the current marketing season that started on June 1.
* Taiwan’s MFIG purchasing group was expected to tender overnight for 60,000 tonnes of U.S. or South American corn. The U.S. Gulf Coast was likely to win the business due to price and loading availability, a trader said. (Reporting by Michael Hirtzer; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
