Soy, corn barge bids down as freight costs sag

Basis bids for soybeans and corn shipped by barge to the U.S. Gulf Coast declined on Tuesday, as barge freight costs fell, traders said.

* Bids for empty barges on the Illinois River for this week tumbled to 550% of tariff on Tuesday, from 625% a day earlier, barge sources said. Offers for spot barges fell about 25 percentage points on the Ohio River.

* Market players await the U.S. Department of Agriculture's monthly supply/demand report on Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expect the government to lower its estimates of Argentina's corn and soy crops.

* CIF corn barges loaded in February were bid at 81 cents over Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) March corn (CH3) futures, down 5 cents from Monday's last bid. Corn barges loaded in March traded at both 86 cents and 85 cents over futures and were re-bid at 84 cents over futures.

* FOB basis offers for February corn shipments were steady at around 90 cents over CBOT March futures, and offers for March shipments held at 99 cents over futures.

* For soybeans, CIF barges loaded in February traded at 94 cents over CBOT March (SH3) soybean futures, down 6 cents from Monday's trades, and were re-bid at 92 cents over futures, down 6 cents from Monday's last bid.

* FOB offers for February soybean shipments were around 118 cents over (SH3) futures and March shipments were offered around 110 cents over futures, both down 2 cents from Monday.