FRENCH MARKET TALK OF SYRIAN WHEAT PURCHASES Syria may have bought 80,000 tonnes of French soft wheat, some traders here said. But others said it may instead have given payment guarantees to allow for the shipping of an old contract to go ahead. Syria has bought around 320,000 tonnes of soft French wheat since the beginning of the 1986/87 campaign, of which only 121,000 tonnes had been exported by the end of last month. The country also bought around 30,000 tonnes of EC soft wheat 12 days ago at 80 to 81 dlrs a tonne, fob, they said.