ANALYSTS SAY USSR MAY PREFER NEW CROP U.S. WHEAT

  The Soviet Union would likely be more
  interested in purchasing new crop wheat than in booking any
  grain for immediate shipment if offered a subsidy on U.S.
  wheat, an executive with a major grain export company said.
      Lower prices and the desire to delay any big purchases
  until the condition of winter and spring crops is better known
  make new crop wheat more attractive, said George Hoffman,
  director of commodity analysis for The Pillsbury Company.
      "Pillsbury is assuming that they (Soviets) will be offered
  a subsidy and that it will be a subsidy that they can respond
  to," Hoffman told Reuters in an interview at an agribusiness
  education conference here. But if there are too many
  constraints placed on a subsidy offer, the USSR will take less
  than an anticipated four mln tonnes, he said.
      Hoffman said Pillsbury's internal statistics put Soviet
  Union wheat purchases at only two mln tonnes under a subsidy
  offer. However, if a subsidy is offered at competitive levels,
  Moscow would likely buy more, he said.
      "If we give the Soviets the same deal as the Chinese, I
  expect they'll take it," said Vernon McMinimy, director of
  commodity research for A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co.
      McMinimy told Reuters spring weather and its impact on
  crops will determine how much wheat Moscow would buy under a
  subsidy offer.
      Soviet winter crops did not get off to a good start because
  of a dry autumn last year, and because of the severe winter
  "they probably have had more damage due to winter weather than
  normal," McMinimy said.
  

