LYNG SAYS NO DECISION ON SOVIET EEP OFFER

  U.S. Agriculture Secretary Richard
  Lyng said the Reagan administration had not decided on offering
  the Soviet Union subsidized wheat but that such an offer had
  not been ruled out.
      In an interview with Reuters, Lyng also said that he had no
  knowledge of any upcoming discussion of the matter within the
  cabinet.
      Asked if the administration had ruled out offering to
  subsidize wheat exports to the Soviet Union under the
  department's export enhancement program, Lyng said, "No. We
  haven't made a decision on it, haven't even talked about it,
  haven't even looked at it."
      Reminded that there have been reports that Moscow would buy
  U.S. wheat if competitively priced, Lyng responded, "If they
  (the Soviets) would offer to buy some wheat, would we accept
  it? It would depend on what price they offered."
      Lyng added that he did not think the price of U.S. wheat
  was far off the world price.
      Asked about persistent speculation that the administration
  would offer Moscow a wheat subsidy, Lyng said, "Some people
  think they're doing it to see if they can get a little spurt in
  the market."
      Agriculture Undersecretary Daniel Amstutz last week asked
  the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to investigate reports
  that wheat prices were being manipulated by reports that a U.S.
  wheat subsidy offer was imminent.
  

