Wheat Quotas

After nearly a week of suspicious sniffing, Argentine Delegate Thomas Le Breton last week received in London his Government's assent and signed the international wheat agreement, drawn up fortnight ago (TIME, Sept. 4). By it the exporting countries agreed to divide between them a total export quota of 560,000,000 bushels of wheat for the coming year, and cut their exportable production 15% for 1934-35. The agreement runs until July 31, 1935, provides an advisory committee to adjust quotas. Importing nations agree to lower their tariffs when the world wheat price has reached 63.08-c- gold (89-c- Roosevelt) and stayed there four months.

The 560,000,000 bushels of exportable wheat were split the following ways:

Canada 200,000,000

Argentina 105,000,000

Australia 110,000,000

U. S 45,000,000

Danube countries *50,000,000

Thus 50,000,000 bushels of export wheat were left to be supplied by the other considerable exporter, Russia. The Soviet delegate signed the agreement but refused to limit exports to a definite figure. Diplo- mats and wheat experts were not perturbed. Private investigations and the unofficial admissions of Russian delegates show that this year Russia will not possibly be able to export more than 50,000,000 bushels. Reason: famine, or as Moscow correspondents find it wiser to say, "mal-nutrition."

*Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania, Jugoslavia.

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