Aug 2 (Reuters) -Spot basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to the U.S. Gulf Coast strengthened on Friday, reflecting demand from exporters following news of fresh U.S. soybean sales to China, traders said.

* Chinese buyers have been showing seasonal interest in U.S. new-crop soybeans, brokers said this week, following a slow start due to stiff competition from Brazilian supplies. U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed no sales of U.S. 2024/25 soybeans to the world's largest buyer until July.

* The USDA on Friday confirmed private sales of 202,000 metric tons of new-crop soybeans to China, a day after confirming sales of another 132,000 tons to the Asian nation.

* Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean Sv1 and corn Cv1 futures fell to their lowest levels in nearly four years this week on strong U.S. harvest prospects, potentially encouraging export business.

* Grain futures bounced on Friday as fears of weakness in the U.S. economy triggered a round of short-covering, but CBOT corn Cv1 still ended the week down 1.65% and soybeans Sv1 slumped 2%. GRA/

* Merchandisers reported light grain movement this week as farmers and grain handlers worked to clear space for the 2024 harvest, but country selling slowed by Friday.

* CIF Gulf soybean barges loaded in August were bid at 79 cents over CBOT November SX24 soybean futures, about 3 cents firmer than Thursday's bid of 74 cents over CBOT August SQ24 futures, given that the November futures contract closed at a 2-cent discount to the August.

* FOB export premiums for Gulf soybean loadings in the first half of September held steady at around 115 cents over CBOT November SX24 futures.

* For corn, CIF Gulf barges loaded in August were bid at 68 cents over CBOT September CU24 corn futures, up 2 cents from Thursday. September corn barge bids were steady at 75 cents over futures.

* FOB offers for Gulf corn shipments loaded in August were around 79 cents over futures, unchanged from Thursday, and offers for September corn shipments were steady at around 85 cents over futures.

Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by Will Dunham

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