US Cash Grains-Soy basis steady-weaker after active week of harvest

CHICAGO, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans were mostly steady to softer in the US Midwest on Friday after a week of active harvesting sent fresh supplies of the oilseed into marketing channels, grain merchandisers said.

• The spot soybean basis fell by 10 cents a bushel at a Toledo, Ohio, terminal and by 5 cents at an elevator in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

• However, the bean basis improved by 5 cents at a Morris, Illinois, elevator on the Illinois River, where grain is loaded onto barges for shipment toward Gulf Coast exporters.

• The CIF basis for soybeans at the Gulf has strengthened this week following a series of US soybean export sales to China.

• Farmers were aggressively harvesting soybeans and corn this week under mostly clear skies. Some growers in Iowa and Indiana were nearly finished with soybeans and were moving on to harvesting corn, merchandisers said this week.

• Corn basis bids were flat on Friday afternoon, spot checks showed, but values strengthened earlier this week at a few locations, reflecting demand from grain handlers and a slow pace of farmer selling as Chicago Board of Trade corn futures hovered near three-month lows.

• Farmers had sold corn as futures rallied to multiyear highs in late August and September, analysts said, and some were inclined to store the rest of their output in hopes of a rally down the road.

• CBOT December corn futures settled down 4-1/2 cents on Friday at $4.56 per bushel while November soybeans ended up 3-1/2 cents at $12.56-1/2 a bushel. GRA/

Basis values are quoted against CBOT futures in cents/bu:

NOTE: 0 = Option Price, UNC = Unchanged, UNQ = Unquoted, NC = Not Comparable, DP = Delayed Price, N/A = Not Available, F = January, H = March, K = May, N = July, Q = August, U = September, X = November, Z = December

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LINKS:

For US forward basis spreadsheets, please click on:

- CBOT corn report COR/

- CBOT soybean report SOY/C

- CBOT wheat report WHE/C

- US grain barge freight values BG/US

- US Midwest cash grain AM GRA/M

- US CIF/FOB Gulf Grain GRA/F