CHICAGO, Dec 13 (Reuters) -Spot basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to the U.S. Gulf Coast ticked lower on Friday in subdued trade while corn barge bids steadied after softening earlier this week following an influx of farmers'corn sales, traders said.

* Farmers'selling surged at midweek, replenishing supply pipelines, as Chicago Board of Trade corn futures CH25 topped $4.50 a bushel. But grain movement dried up as futures retreated. CBOT March corn settled on Friday at $4.42, posting a weekly net gain of 2 cents.

* Traders seemed to shrug off news that the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed private sales of 200,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to undisclosed destinations, a day after confirming sales of another 334,000 tons of soybeans, also to undisclosed destinations.

* At the Gulf, CIF soybean barges loaded in December were bid at 88 cents over Chicago Board of Trade January SF25 futures, down a penny from Thursday.

* FOB export premiums for January soybean shipments were steady at around 109 cents over futures.

* For corn, CIF barges loaded in December were bid at 67 cents over CBOT March CH25 futures, unchanged from Thursday's late bid. January corn barges traded at 71 cents over futures and February barges traded at 73 cents over futures.

* FOB offers for corn shipped from the Gulf in January held steady at around 87 cents over CBOT March futures.

* Storms were forecast for the St. Louis, Missouri, area through Saturday, with another round expected Sunday into Monday, promising welcome rains for the Mississippi River. Draft restrictions on Mississippi River barges could ease south of St. Louis next week, a barge source said, allowing shippers to load more grain per barge.

Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; editing by Diane Craft

For displays of CIF basis, click on the codes in brackets: U.S. CIF Gulf soybeans GRYM U.S. CIF Gulf corn GRYN U.S. CIF Gulf SRW wheat GRYO U.S. CIF Gulf HRW wheat GRYP
For displays of FOB basis, please click on the following codes in brackets: U.S. FOB Gulf corn GRZC U.S. FOB Gulf soybeans GRZD U.S. FOB Gulf SRW wheat GRZE U.S. FOB Gulf HRW wheat GRZF LINKS Corn prices page: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageid=corn-cash-market
Wheat prices page: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageid=wheat-cash-market
U.S. barge freight BG/US
U.S. export sales estimates USDA/EST
U.S. grain export summary GRA/U
Brazil soybean export prices SYBS
Brazil corn export prices SYBX
Argentina grain prices GRA/ARG
Russia grain prices GRA/RU