Corn barge basis bids steady to higher ahead US-China meeting

CHICAGO, Sept 21 (Reuters) — Basis bids for corn shipped by barge to the US Gulf Coast were steady to higher on Monday, while soybean bids were flat as market players anticipated that a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping this week could expand Chinese buying of American crops. US and Chinese officials focused on trade issues during successful talks in New York on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. Chinese state-owned buyers have bought US soybeans. However, traders hope private Chinese buyers could resume purchases if Beijing removes a 10% import duty, according to analysts. GRA/ China has now crossed the halfway point toward its commitment, agreed with Washington last October, to buy 25 million metric tons of US soybeans. The US Department of Agriculture reported weekly export inspections for the week ended September 17 at 1,938,523 metric tons of corn, 759,193 tons of soybeans and 335,253 tons of wheat. CIF soybean barges loaded in September were bid at 78 cents over CBOT November soybean futures, while barges loaded in October were bid at 90 cents over November futures. Corn barges loaded in November were bid at 91 cents over December futures. Barges loaded in January, February and March were bid at 88 cents over March futures. For displays of CIF basis, click on the codes in brackets: US CIF Gulf soybeans US CIF Gulf corn US CIF Gulf SRW wheat US CIF Gulf HRW wheat For displays of FOB basis, please click on the following codes in brackets: US FOB Gulf corn US FOB Gulf soybeans US FOB Gulf SRW wheat US FOB Gulf HRW wheat Links Corn prices page: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageid=corn-cash-market Wheat prices page: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageid=wheat-cash-market US barge freight BG/US US export sales estimates USDA/EST US grain export summary GRA/U Brazil soybean export prices Brazil corn export prices (Reporting by Renee Hickman; Editing by Christian Schmollinger) ((renee.hickman@thomsonreuters.com)