USSR WHEAT BONUS RUMORS PERSIST DESPITE DENIALS
Grain trade representatives continued
to speculate that the Reagan administration will offer
subsidized wheat to the Soviet Union, while U.S. Agriculture
Department officials said there was no substance to the
reports.
    "It's pure fiction," said one senior official at USDA's
Foreign Agricultural Service, referring to the rumor that the
administration would make an export enhancement offer to Moscow
in the next two to three weeks.
    An aide to Agriculture Secretary Richard Lyng who asked not
to be identified said there was nothing to substantiate the
speculation, which he said was started by "somebody fanning the
(wheat) market." Wheat futures strengthened today, partly on the
basis of the speculation.
    One lobbyist with close connections to the Reagan
administration said a Soviet trade team told private grain
trade officials in New York last week that Moscow would buy as
much as four mln tonnes of U.S. wheat, much of it before
mid-year, if it was "competitively priced."
    Alexander Ivlev, an official with Amtorg, a Soviet trading
organization, told Reuters he had no information to
substantiate the rumors of an imminent wheat subsidy offer, but
said that Moscow "would consider" buying U.S. wheat if it was
competitively priced.
    "We don't care if it is EEP, what we (the Soviets) are
looking for is competitive prices," Ivlev said. "If they (the
administration) are interested in selling it (wheat), they
should find ways to do it."
 Reuter
