Corn, Soybean Premiums Rise as Flooding Slows Barge Shipments

Cash premiums for corn and soybeans shipped in April to terminals near New Orleans rose relative to Chicago futures as flooding slowed shipments of grain, boosting demand for immediate supplies.

The spot-basis bid, or premium, for corn delivered this month rose to 58 cents to 61 cents a bushel above May futures, compared with 55 cents to 60 cents on April 21, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. The basis for soybeans delivered in April was 64 cents to 73 cents a bushel, up from 64 cents to 68 cents.

“We are getting bigger shipping problems along the river system because of increased flooding,” said Troy Lust, a commercial grain analyst for INTL FCStone Inc. in West Des Moines, Iowa. “A number of locations are at or will soon be at flood stage” along the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio rivers, he said.

Corn futures for May delivery rose 25.25 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $7.625 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Soybean futures for May delivery rose 9 cents to $13.895 a bushel, the third straight gain.

Flooding will be a problem for farmers from Canada to northern Mississippi and east through the Ohio River Valley after some fields received as much as 9 inches (23 centimeters) of rain the past seven days, Fred Gesser, a senior agricultural meteorologist for Planalytics Inc. in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, said in an interview.

Major flooding is already reported at 54 locations, and 98 stations, which include grain terminals and locks and dams, reported moderate flooding from North Dakota to Tennessee, data from theNational Weather Service showed.

“Barge loadings have ceased or slowed considerably in the last week,” Lust said. “It looks like it’s going to stay wet for the next two weeks.”

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-25/corn-soybean-premiums-rise-as-flooding-slows-barge-shipments.html)