CHICAGO, July 8 (Reuters) - Spot basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals were steady to higher on Wednesday after a jump in sales to China this week, while corn barge basis bids held mostly steady, traders said.

• China's state-owned trader COFCO has purchased at least 10 cargoes of mostly new-crop U.S. soybeans this week despite cheaper prices in Brazil. Further purchases are expected, traders said.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday confirmed 472,000 metric tons of soybean sales to China in the last 24 hours.

• The USDA is due to release weekly export sales data early on Thursday for the period ending July 2, before the uptick in Chinese demand this week.

• Analysts surveyed by Reuters expect net old-crop soybean sales as high as 500,000 metric tons, and a similar volume for new-crop sales. Net old-crop corn sales could reach 1.1 million tons, while new crop sales are expected to be as high as 900,000 tons.

• Traders are watching for any shifts in federal policy regarding trade with Spain, the No. 5 importer of U.S. corn and No. 12 importer of soybeans last year. U.S. President Donald Trump had ordered a halt to all trade with Spain over its defense spending.

• CIF soybean barges loaded in July were traded at 105 cents over CBOT August soybean futures SQ26, up at least 11 cents from bids late on Tuesday. August soy barges traded as high as 110 cents over futures, up 3 cents from the top trades a day earlier.

• FOB offers for August soybean shipments from the Gulf were up 10 cents at 120 cents over CBOT August futures.

• CIF corn barges loaded in July were bid steady at 94 cents over CBOT July futures CN26. August corn barges were bid 98 cents over September futures CU26, also unchanged.

• FOB export premiums for Gulf corn vessels loaded in August rose 2 cents to 114 cents over September futures for loadings in the first half of the month and 118 cents over futures for last-half loadings.

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