Word: grains
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...price effects of the long-term agreement will depend on how much the Soviets actually buy, the size of U.S. crops and the amount of grain exported to other countries. Knowledge that the Soviets will be in the market could keep prices a bit higher than they otherwise would be; on the other hand, spreading out Soviet purchases should avoid the sharp price jumps that occur when they are bunched into short periods...
Ceiling Disliked. Farmers, grain dealers, farm-implement makers, railroads and shipping companies had all pushed hard for a long-term grain deal, knowing that without one the ban on further sales to the Soviets would not be lifted. But when the deal was announced many farmers angrily branded it unjustified Government interference in world grain markets. They objected to the requirement that the Soviets negotiate before buying more than 8 million tons a year, contending that the limit would prevent them from recouping sales lost during the moratorium...
...This thing is clear out of joint," complained Gene Wheeler, a Watonga. Okla., farmer and grain dealer. "Ford made a statement that he's gonna take the peaks out of the market. What he doesn't know is that when you take away all the peaks, you've got nothing left but valleys." Nebraska Democratic Governor J. James Exon decried the agreement as a Ford Administration "sellout" to gain votes from populous urban areas at the expense of farming states. These attacks are clearly extravagant. The requirement for negotiation on purchases of more than 8 million tons...
...Setback. For the Soviets the deal buys time to improve the nation's badly functioning agricultural system. Internal Soviet political stress is building over this year's crop disaster, which Western analysts feel could be a setback for Communist Party Chief Leonid Brezhnev. Says one diplomat: "The grain situation could put the leadership and Brezhnev on the spot." The necessity of buying grain from the capitalist U.S. is expected to be a touchy issue. Brezhnev can argue within the Politburo, however, that the U.S. wants Soviet oil as much as the Soviets want U.S. grain...
...negotiators did try to work out an oil deal to be signed at the same time as the grain agreement but failed. The U.S. demanded a price 15% below the world price set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries; the Soviets balked. Instead, the two sides signed a "letter of intent" to resume negotiations on a deal under which the Soviets would ship to the U.S. the equivalent of 200,000 bbl. of oil a day at prices to be mutually agreed upon...