Oct 17 (Reuters) -Basis bids for corn shipped barge to the U.S. Gulf Coast and loaded for export were mostly higher on Thursday on strong demand and thinning supplies in the export pipeline due to limited farmer sales and river shipping woes, traders said.

* CIF Gulf soybean basis bids were steady to higher, underpinned by good demand for export-grade beans.

* Low water on the lower Mississippi River continued to impede grain barge shipments to Gulf exporters. Barges need to be loaded with less grain in such conditions so shipping costs are also higher. BG/US

* The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration winter weather outlook suggests wetter weather in the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley regions should help boost Mississippi River water levels later this winter.

* Corn export demand has spiked this week as Mexican importers have bookedlarge volumes, mostly for shipment by rail. U.S. corn is also cheaper than rival grain from South America for shipment to Asian buyers, traders said.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Thursday confirmed 298,180 metric tons of U.S. corn sales to Mexico and undisclosed buyers after reporting more than 2 million tons in sales on Wednesday.

* CIF corn barges loaded in October were bid 7 cents higher at 88 cents over Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) December CZ24 futures.

* FOB Gulf offers for November and December corn shipments held at about 115 cents over futures.

* CIF October soybean barges were bid 6 cents higher at 112 cents over CBOT November SX24 soybean futures. Barges that were loaded in the first half of this month were bid even higher, at 117 cents over futures, reflecting strong demand for immediate supplies.

* FOB offers for November soybean shipments held firm at 135 cents over futures.

Reporting by Karl Plume; Editing by Shreya Biswas

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