35 



we've seen some movement on the issue, and we have now ap- 

 proved two amendments to cover roughly 600,000 tons of grain, 

 and I expect that there will be some additional movement on that 

 issue very shortly. I would caution that those exports have not yet 

 taken place, but that USDA has done what it must do to make it 

 possible for them to. 



Mr. Penny. Could you talk a little more about barter? Under the 

 Freedom Support Act, and I think in earlier legislation, probably 

 in the 1990 farm bill, we made some reference to barter. I know 

 that some attempts have been made to negotiate barter sales, but 

 I think our sense is that we haven't been as aggressive as some of 

 our competitors. In recent months we've seen evidence that France, 

 Australia, Canada are involved in significant barter sales to the 

 former Soviet Union. Where do we stand, and what are the pros- 

 pects for development of barter sales for the future? 



Mr. GOLDTHWAIT. First of all, the Commodity Credit Corporation 

 has several direct barter authorities, most of which, however, per- 

 tain to commodities that CCC itself may own. Today CCC does not 

 have large surplus inventories other than of butter. But we have 

 looked and are continuing to look at whether or not there are ways 

 that we can facilitate private sector barter trgmsactions, and the 

 development of a mechanism to do that is among the various op- 

 tions that we're studying for maintaining the major portion of our 

 trade. 



However, what we have done so far really relates to the use of 

 our export enhancement program, where in effect we amended the 

 requirement in the program that said that a buyer must be located 

 in the country of the commodity's delivery. By permitting buyers in 

 third countries to purchase for delivery to the countries of the 

 former Soviet Union, we in effect enabled ourselves to participate 

 in the barter trade that is going on there. We have approved for 

 export under the EEP roughly 1.5 million tons of wheat bonuses 

 and bonuses for 20,000 tons of barley under that adjustment in our 

 export enhancement program. 



So I think we are already participating in the barter trade, and 

 most of those deliveries have been to Uzbekistan and Russia. 



Mr. Penny. I think, at least, for my purposes — I don't pretend to 

 speak for the rest of the subcommittee — a more aggressive pursuit 

 of barter possibilities would certainly be welcomed. It seems to me 

 that, first of all, we have to reschedule the existing credits. That, 

 then, will provide some signal to us as to what terms need to apply 

 to future credit sales, and barter is one-way of locking in a return 

 on those sales of commodities, and it seems to me it ought to be 

 a more central element in our trading relationship. 



Are we likely to move the GSM-t103 — once the Paris Club makes 

 its decision on the current credits, are we likely to offer additional 

 credits under GSM-103? 



Mr. GOLDTHWAIT. I can't say at this point the degree to which 

 we will be able to resume use of the credit program after reschedul- 

 ing. Certainly, 103 could be considered along with 102, but we 

 would have to look not only at the exact terms that emerge from 

 Paris Club rescheduling, we would have to work with the Russians 

 to handle those arrears that would not be rescheduled, and they 

 would be significant, according to the most recent estimates. And, 



