CHICAGO, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Spot basis bids for soybeans shipped by barge to U.S. Gulf Coast export terminals rose slightly on Tuesday, while corn bids were mostly steady.

* Demand for U.S. soy from China, the world's biggest importer of the oilseed, looked quiet, a broker said.

* Traders kept an eye on crop weather in South America, which competes with the U.S. for global export sales, as dryness recently raised concerns about production in Argentina.

* Expectations for rain in Argentina encouraged profit-taking in Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean futures, after drier forecasts and a softer dollar fueled gains on Monday.

* Traders are waiting for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to update world supply and demand estimates in a monthly crop report on Friday. Analysts, on average, expect USDA to trim its estimates for last autumn's U.S. corn harvest, according to a Reuters poll.

* USDA, in a daily reporting system, said exporters sold 110,000 metric tons of U.S. corn to Colombia.

* U.S. President-elect Donald Trump spoke of implementing serious tariffs on Mexico, the biggest importer of U.S. corn, and on Canada.

* CIF soybean barges loaded in January were bid 82 cents over CBOT March soybean futures, up a penny from Monday.

* FOB export premiums for February offers remained at about 95 cents over March futures.

* CIF January corn barges were bid steady at about 66 cents over CBOT March corn futures.

* FOB offers for corn shipped from the Gulf in January were flat at 86 cents over March futures.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)

((Thomas.Polansek@thomsonreuters.com))

((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 ))