July 17 (Reuters) -Basis bids for corn and soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were generally steady on Wednesday, though loadings for deferred months showed some signs of weakness, traders said.

* Empty barge rates along the Illinois River and on the Mississippi River at St. Louis traded higher, with signs of spot demand and tightening supplies, traders said. BG/US

* Weather conditions in Argentina are turning dry, with low water levels causing reduced drafts which are limiting the volume of grain that can be loaded on vessels on the Parana River, two traders said.

* Taiwan's MFIG purchasing group bought about 65,000 metric tons of animal feed corn expected to be sourced from the United States in an international tender on Wednesday, European traders said.

* A group of South Korean flour mills bought an estimated 40,000 metric tons of milling wheat to be sourced from the United States in an international tender on Wednesday, European traders said.

* CIF corn barges loaded in July were bid around 61 cents over Chicago Board of Trade September CU24 corn futures, down 2 cents from Tuesday. Barges loaded in August were bid about 63 cents over futures, also down 2 cents.

* FOB offers for corn shipments loaded from the Gulf in August were steady at around 76 cents over September futures.

* CIF soybean barges loaded in October traded at 68 cents a bushel over CBOT November SX24 futures.

* CIF soybean barges loaded in July were bid at 76 cents a bushel over CBOT August SQ24 futures, up 1 cent from Tuesday. Bids for August barge loadings were 60 cents over futures, up 1 cent, traders said.

* FOB export premiums for soybean shipments loaded from the Gulf in August were steady at around 95 cents over CBOT August futures.

Reporting by P.J. Huffstutter; 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