Sept 5 (Reuters) -Spot basis bids for soybeans and corn shipped by barge to the U.S. Gulf Coast rose on Thursday, extending this week's firm trend, as exporters scrambled for supplies while the 2024 harvest was still in its infancy and low water levels on the Mississippi River impeded barge movement, traders said.

* Towing and draft restrictions were in effect in some areas, limiting the amount of grain that can be loaded onto Gulf-bound barges, Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, said this week.

* Rains crossing the Mississippi River Delta on Thursday were not expected to improve river levels significantly.

* The harvest of 2024 corn and soybeans is well under way in the Delta but still a few weeks away in the heart of the Midwest crop belt.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed private sales of 126,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to China and another 189,700 tons to undisclosed destinations.

* Ahead of Friday's export sales report, traders expected the USDA to report U.S. new-crop soybean sales in the week to Aug. 29 at 800,000 to 2,000,000 metric tons and new-crop corn sales of 700,000 to 1,400,000 tons. Weekly wheat sales were estimated at 300,000 to 600,000 tons. USDA/EST

* At the Gulf, CIF soybean barges loaded in September traded at 80 and 83 cents over Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) November soybean SX24 futures, up 1 to 4 cents from Wednesday's trades, and were re-bid at around 80 cents over futures, up 4 cents from Wednesday's last bid.

* October CIF soy barges traded at 86 cents over futures.

* FOB export premiums for Gulf soybeans loaded in the last half of October, the earliest available slot, were about 118 cents over futures, up 3 cents from Wednesday.

* For corn, CIF barges loaded in September were bid at 87 cents over CBOT December CZ24 futures, up 2 cents from Wednesday.

* FOB Gulf export premiums for corn shipped in October were about 117 cents over CBOT December futures, up a nickel from Wednesday.

Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu

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