Sept 6 (Reuters) -Spot basis bids for corn and soybeans shipped by barge to the U.S. Gulf Coast were largely steady on Friday afternoon.

* Low water levels on the Mississippi River continue to slow barge shipments, shippers said.

* River levels are not expected to improve significantly soon, traders said. Weather forecaster Maxar projected below-normal rainfall will continue across most of the Corn Belt through the middle of September.

* Dry weather will aid corn and soy harvesting but not river transportation to export markets, a broker said.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported weekly U.S. corn export sales of 1,822,500 metric tons for 2024/25, compared to analysts' expectations for 700,000-1,400,000 metric tons.

* USDA reported weekly U.S. soybean export sales of 1,658,700 metric tons for 2024/25, within a wide range of estimates for 800,000-2,000,000 metric tons.

* Traders noted slow Chinese demand for U.S. corn and soy.

* At the Gulf, CIF corn barges loaded in September were bid at 87 cents over Chicago Board of Trade December CZ24 futures, unchanged from Thursday.

* FOB Gulf export premiums for corn shipped in October were about 115 cents over CBOT December futures, down two cents.

* For soybeans, CIF barges loaded in September were bid at 82 cents over CBOT November soybean SX24 futures. They traded at 80 and 83 cents over futures on Thursday.

* October CIF soy barges were bid at 86 cents over futures after trading at 86 cents over futures on Thursday.

* FOB export premiums for Gulf soybeans loaded in the last half of October, the earliest available slot, were about 118 cents over futures, unchanged from Thursday.

* On Monday, traders will review weekly USDA crop-progress data for an update on the nation's corn harvest and also Canadian crop stocks data. The USDA on Thursday is slated to issue monthly grain supply/demand data.

Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Tasim Zahid

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