July 8 (Reuters) -Basis bids for soybeans and corn shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were largely steady on Monday.

* Chinese demand for soy remained quiet, brokers said. But Brazil's competitive edge against U.S. soybean offers eased as Brazil's basis ticked higher over the weekend, they said.

* Brazilian farmers have sold 34% of the second corn crop they are expected to produce across the country's south-central region this year, consultancy firm Safras & Mercado said, compared to 34.1% sold in the same period last year.

* Exporters sold 135,636 metric tons of U.S. corn to unknown buyers, of which 50,800 tons is for 2023/24 delivery and 84,836 tons is for 2024/2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its daily reporting system.

* The USDA separately said 273,321 metric tons of U.S. soybeans and 1 million metric tons of U.S. corn were inspected for export in the week ended July 4. Both were within analysts' expectations.

* CIF soybean barges loaded in July were bid at 73 cents a bushel over Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) August SQ24 futures, unchanged from Friday.

* FOB export premiums for soybean shipments loaded from the Gulf in August were quoted at around 88 cents over CBOT August futures, flat from last week.

* For corn, CIF barges loaded in July were bid around 53 cents over CBOT September CU24 corn futures, unchanged from Friday.

* FOB offers for corn shipments loaded from the Gulf in July were unchanged at around 61 cents over CBOT July CN24 futures. Premiums for August loadings were around 67 cents over September futures, up four cents.

* CBOT soybean and corn futures dropped to around the lowest prices in four years amid expectations for hefty U.S. crops. GRA/

Reporting by Tom Polansek

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