FOB Gulf Grain-Corn offers firm on tight supplies, higher CIF

May 3 (Reuters) - Corn export premiums at the U.S. Gulf
Coast were higher on Thursday, mirroring a spike in the CIF
barge market that supplies exporters, bolstered by exceptionally
tight old-crop stocks, traders said.
* Offers for corn in some summer shipping periods were
ill-defined or unquoted as grain was very difficult to source or
unavailable.
* June-shipped corn at the Gulf was offered around 100 cents
a bushel FOB over Chicago Board of Trade July futures, up
about 6 cents from the previous day. July offers were nominally
around 85 over, but numerous exporters were no longer offering
July shipments due to scarce supplies, a trader said.
* CIF basis bids for spot barges spiked to 94 cents over
CBOT July, the highest spot basis since July 2011. Farmer sales
of old-crop corn remained quiet, keeping available supplies in
the market very tight.
* Demand for corn was solid, with regular buyers such as
Japan and Mexico making inquiries about prices on Thursday.
* Corn traders also on alert for further sales to China
after prices retreated to "within striking distance" of price
levels that have triggered large sales in the past, for both
old- and new-crop shipments, a trader said.
* Weekly U.S. corn export sales last week surged to a
21-year high on active buying by China.

WHEAT, SOYBEANS
* Wheat export premiums at the Gulf Coast were about steady,
underpinned by good demand for U.S. wheat amid competitive
prices and limited available old-crop supplies, traders said.
* Algeria bought about 120,000 tonnes U.S. hard red winter
wheat for May shipment, with the first grain to be loaded as
soon as next week, traders said.
* Tunisia seeking 75,000 tonnes optional-origin soft wheat
in a tender closing on Friday. Tenders by
Lebanon and Jordan close next week, although traders said they
may favor Black Sea wheat.
* Soybean export premiums at the Gulf were unchanged amid
steady buying by China, mostly for new-crop supplies.
* USDA on Thursday confirmed a 232,000-tonne U.S. soybean
sale to China for 2012/13 shipment. That followed new-crop sales
confirmations totaling 534,000 tonnes to China and unknown
buyers earlier this week.
* Argentina's Buenos Aires Grains Exchange cut its soy crop
forecast to 41 million tonnes, down 17 percent from a year ago.

* USDA reported that 27 ocean-going grain vessels were
loaded at the Gulf in the week ended April 26, down 18 percent
from the same week a year ago, and 34 more were expected to load
in the next 10 days, down 28 percent from a year ago.

To check displays of FOB basis, click on following:
U.S. FOB Gulf corn
U.S. FOB Gulf soybeans
U.S. FOB Gulf SRW wheat
U.S. FOB Gulf HRW wheat

LINKS
* FOB U.S. Gulf Grain
* U.S. grain export summary
* Brazil soybean export prices
* Brazil corn export prices
* Argentine grain prices
* Russian grain prices

(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; Editing by David Gregorio)