CIF/FOB Gulf Grain-Corn, soy barge basis steady-firmer as farmer sales slow

CHICAGO, March 23 (Reuters) - Spot basis bids of soybeans and corn shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were steady to stronger on Monday, supported by decent demand from exporters amid slowing farmer grain sales, traders said.

• Under its daily reporting rules, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed private sales of 161,120 metric tons of U.S. old-crop soybeans, along with 102,000 tons of U.S. corn to Mexico.

• Weekly inspection data reflected a brisk pace of U.S. grain shipments. The USDA said 1,700,178 tons of corn were inspected for export in the week ended March 19, in line with trade expectations for 1,400,000 to 2,050,000 tons. USDA/I

• Soybean export inspections totaled 1,101,730 tons, at the high end of expectations of 600,000 to 1,150,000 tons.

• For wheat, weekly export inspections totaled 458,411 tons, topping trade expectations of 250,000 to 450,000 tons.

• At the Gulf, CIF soybean barges loaded in March were bid at 68 cents over Chicago Board of Trade May SK26 soybean futures, up 2 cents from Friday, and April barges were bid at 69 cents over futures.

• FOB export premiums of April soybean loadings held steady at 97 cents over futures.

• For corn, CIF Gulf barges loaded in March were bid at 85 cents over CBOT May CK26 futures, unchanged from Friday. April corn barge bids were up a penny at 82 cents over futures.

• Corn export premiums of April loadings at the Gulf were steady at 95 cents over futures.

• A delegation from Brazil's Agriculture Ministry began talks undefined in Beijing on Monday with Chinese authorities on phytosanitary inspection rules for Brazilian soybeans. The ministry said no decisions had been reached, countering a media report that China had already moved to relax rules on the presence of weeds in soybean cargoes from Brazil.