Aug 5 (Reuters) -Spot basis bids for corn shipped by barge to the U.S. Gulf Coast firmed on Monday on exporter demand, traders said, while soybean barge bids eased as farmer offerings of both crops increased in recent days.

* CIF Gulf corn barges loaded in August were bid at 70 cents over Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) September CU24 corn futures, up 2 cents from Friday. September corn barges were bid at 76 cents over futures, up a penny.

* FOB offers for Gulf corn shipments loaded in August held steady at 79 cents over futures and offers for September corn shipments were flat at around 85 cents over futures.

* Underscoring the competitiveness of U.S. corn, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported corn export inspections in the latest week at 1,213,422 metric tons, topping a range of trade expectations for 700,000 to 1,200,000 tons.

* The USDA reported soybean export inspections of 261,203 tons, toward the low end of trade expectations, and wheat inspections of 440,888 tons, near the high end of expectations. USDA/I

* CIF Gulf soybean barges loaded in August were bid at 76 cents over CBOT November SX24 soybean futures, down 3 cents from Friday's bid. October soybean barges traded at 84 cents over futures and November barges traded at 80 cents over futures.

* Export premiums for Gulf soybean loadings in the first half of September were steady at around 115 cents over November SX24 futures while premiums for November shipments were offered at 93 cents over futures, up 3 cents from Friday.

* Traders noted increasing interest in U.S. new-crop soybeans from Chinese buyers, particularly for November shipments. The USDA last week reported fresh U.S. soybean sales to China, the world's top buyer.

* CBOT corn and soybean futures ended higher on Monday as a drop in the dollar .DXY supported U.S. exports and funds liquidated short positions. GRA/

* The USDA rated 68% of the U.S. soybean crop in good to excellent condition in its weekly crop progress report, up from 67% last week, bucking analyst expectations for a decline.

* The government rated 67% of the corn crop as good to excellent, down from 68% a week ago and in line with trade expectations.

Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by Rashmi Aich

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