Nov 18 (Reuters) - Basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast inched higher on Monday as exporter demand for prompt supplies overshadowed pressure from cheaper barge freight costs, traders said.

* Increased rainfall this month has lifted water levels on the Mississippi River, hastening the movement of grain barges toward the Gulf and allowing for heavier loads on fewer barges. Offers for empty barges on the Mississippi declined again on Monday.

* At the Gulf, bids for CIF soybean barges loaded in November were around 89 cents over Chicago Board of Trade January futures, up 1 cent from Friday, while December soybean barges were bid steady at 85 cents over futures.

* But FOB export premiums for soybeans shipped out of the Gulf in December were around 112 cents over futures, down 4 cents from Friday.

* For corn, CIF barges loaded in November were bid at 78 cents over CBOT December futures and December barges were bid at 80 cents over futures, both unchanged from Friday.

* FOB offers for January corn shipped out of the Gulf, the first month available, were steady at 94 cents over CBOT March

futures.

* Under its daily reporting rules, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed private sales of 261,264 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to Mexico, 30,000 tons of soyoil to India and 135,000 tons of soymeal to the Philippines. All were for 2024/25 marketing year shipment.

* Separately, the USDA reported export inspections of U.S. soybeans in the latest week at 2.165 million metric tons, in line with trade expectations for 1.9 million to 2.5 million tons.

* The USDA reported weekly corn export inspections at 820,608 tons, near the high end of estimates for 650,000 to 900,000 tons, and wheat inspections at 196,281 tons, below a range of estimates for 300,000 to 425,000 tons.

* On the CBOT, corn and soybean futures ended higher on Monday, following as wheat futures rose on fears of escalating tensions in the Black Sea region after the White House lifted restrictions that had blocked Ukraine from using U.S. missiles to strike deep within Russia.

(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

((Julie.ingwersen@thomsonreuters.com; 1-313-484-5283; Reuters Messaging: julie.ingwersen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

((For displays of CIF basis, click on the codes in brackets:

U.S. CIF Gulf soybeans

U.S. CIF Gulf corn

U.S. CIF Gulf SRW wheat

U.S. CIF Gulf HRW wheat For displays of FOB basis, please click on the following codes in brackets:

U.S. FOB Gulf corn

U.S. FOB Gulf soybeans

U.S. FOB Gulf SRW wheat

U.S. FOB Gulf HRW wheat

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 U.S. export sales estimates U.S. grain export summary Brazil soybean export prices Brazil corn export prices Argentina grain prices Russia grain prices ))