USSR WHEAT BONUS RUMORS PERSIST DESPITE DENIALS Grain trade representatives continued to speculate that the Reagan administration will offer subsidized wheat to the Soviet Union, while U.S. Agriculture Department officials said there was no substance to the reports. "It's pure fiction," said one senior official at USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, referring to the rumor that the administration would make an export enhancement offer to Moscow in the next two to three weeks. An aide to Agriculture Secretary Richard Lyng who asked not to be identified said there was nothing to substantiate the speculation, which he said was started by "somebody fanning the (wheat) market." Wheat futures strengthened today, partly on the basis of the speculation. One lobbyist with close connections to the Reagan administration said a Soviet trade team told private grain trade officials in New York last week that Moscow would buy as much as four mln tonnes of U.S. wheat, much of it before mid-year, if it was "competitively priced." Alexander Ivlev, an official with Amtorg, a Soviet trading organization, told Reuters he had no information to substantiate the rumors of an imminent wheat subsidy offer, but said that Moscow "would consider" buying U.S. wheat if it was competitively priced. "We don't care if it is EEP, what we (the Soviets) are looking for is competitive prices," Ivlev said. "If they (the administration) are interested in selling it (wheat), they should find ways to do it."