CHICAGO, July 11 (Reuters) – U.S. FOB Gulf soybean, corn and wheat basis offers held firm late Friday after futures plummeted to multiyear lows on bearish U.S. Agriculture Department data, traders said.
* Importers were cautious about booking fresh sales the past couple days, waiting for USDA’s monthly crop report, traders said. USDA on Friday raised its U.S. end stocks estimates for old- and new-crop soybeans, corn and wheat, triggering the sell-off in futures.
* Sharply lower futures shut off farmer sales of corn, soybeans and wheat, tightening free supplies even more, traders said.
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* FOB soybean offers were firm with Chinese interest strong for new-crop as U.S. Gulf beans are the cheapest in the world, traders said. U.S. soybeans for last-half August shipments to China are running about $5 to $10 per tonne cheaper than South America, they said.
* Exporters are already juggling logistics and tight capacity for fall deliveries to the Gulf given steady Chinese demand for new-crop soy.
* Soybean offers for September through November were unchanged, with September offered at 180 cents over September futures. October and November were quoted at 160 cents and 130 cents over November futures, respectively.
* CBOT August soy closed 37 cents down at $11.95-3/4 a bushel. November soy ended 18 cents lower at $10.75.
* Inquires for corn were quiet late Friday but exporters expected interest to pick up next week with the drop in futures to uncover more business.
* FOB Gulf corn was steady for August/September at 100 cents over September futures while O/N/D slots were marked up 5 cents at 105 cents over December futures. CBOT September corn closed 8 cents lower at $3.78-1/4 per bushel.
* Wheat offers were unchanged late Friday. SRW August loadings were 90 over CBOT September futures and Sept was 95 cents over futures. Texas Gulf HRW August was steady at 150 cents over KCBT September. Loadings for Oct/Nov/Dec were unchanged at 175 cents over KCBT December futures.
* CBOT September wheat closed 22-1/2 cents lower at $5.26 and KCBT September wheat ended 11 cents down at $6.36-1/4.
* Cash traders cited concerns about SRW wheat quality as it continues to test high for vomitoxin.
(Reporting by Christine Stebbins; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
