The Europeans are exporting subsidized wheat - dumping really.
The Agriculture Department has authorized the Soviets to buy an additional two million metric tons of subsidized wheat.
The rumors included the possibility that Moscow might be interested in the United States resurrecting its offer of subsidized wheat.
The Soviet Union agreed to buy up to four million tons of subsidized American wheat.
The Soviet purchases would represent the largest sale ever of subsidized American wheat to a single country, Agriculture Department officials said today.
China, for example, resubmitted higher bids to Washington for 1.2 million tons of subsidized wheat after its previous bids were rejected as too low.
The sale was the first since Jan. 19, when the Soviet Union's authority for buying subsidized wheat was virtually exhausted.
Wheat futures were helped by rumors that the Soviet Union is about to bid for another million tons of subsidized American wheat.
Rumors have arisen repeatedly over recent months that the Agriculture Department was going to offer subsidized wheat to the Russians under the export bonus program.
There was new speculation that the Government might offer subsidized wheat to the Soviet Union by the end of the week.