CHICAGO, May 22 (Reuters) - Spot cash corn basis bids were mostly steady to firm around the U.S. Midwest on Thursday, supported by slow farmer sales, while soybean basis bids were mostly unchanged to slightly lower, crop merchants said.

• A barge-loading river elevator in Bettendorf, Iowa, raised its spot corn basis bid by 2 cents a bushel, while a river elevator in Morris, Illinois, trimmed its soybean basis bid by 5 cents. The spot bid for rail-delivered corn in Columbus, Ohio, gained 7 cents.

• Wet soil conditions kept many growers out of their fields on Thursday following early-week storms in the Midwest. Planting has been ahead of normal and a drier weather pattern is forecast through next week. However, rains are expected to sideline farmers around parts of the Ohio River valley.

• Weekly U.S. corn export sales in the week ended May 15 fell to a three-week low, while soybean sales were the lowest in four weeks, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data issued on Thursday. EXP/CORN EXP/SOY

• CBOT July corn futures CN25 settled 2 cents higher on Thursday at $4.63 a bushel, while July soybeans SN25 ended 4-3/4 cents higher at $10.67-1/2 per bushel.

Basis values are quoted against CBOT futures in cents/bu:

NOTE: 0 = Option Price, UNC = Unchanged, UNQ = Unquoted,

NC = Not Comparable, DP = Delayed Price, N/A = Not Available,

F = January, H = March, K = May, N = July, Q = August,U = September, X = November, Z = December

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LINKS: 0#USCSHGRN-AM

For U.S. forward basis spreadsheets, please click on:

CORN/BASIS, SOYA/BASIS, WHEAT/BASIS, MILO/BASIS

- CBOT corn report COR/

- CBOT soybean report SOY/C

- CBOT wheat report WHE/C

- U.S. grain barge freight values BG/US

- U.S. Midwest cash grain AM GRA/M

- U.S. CIF/FOB Gulf Grain GRA/F

(Reporting by Karl Plume; Editing by David Gregorio)

((karl.plume@thomsonreuters.com; +1 313 484 5285))