"No one will take the risk that a vessel could arrive here and be held up at customs," said a Barcelona trader.

Some traders believed importers could face a tight schedule as the maize had to arrive by an October 30 deadline, but others were confident there was still time for it to be shipped.

If importers do bid, they would offer very low prices as non-EU maize would have to compete with the French, Spanish and Portuguese harvests, which were gathering pace.

Traders said the 20,500 tonnes of maize awarded for Spain by the EU grains management committee last Thursday, at a maximum levy reduction of 78.93 Ecus per tonne, was US old crop destined for the feed industry.

"Importers did not go for a larger quantity because they had no assurance that it would be old crop," saidone trader.

"They would have gone for the full quantity available because US corn is cheap, but they did not because of concerns over the genetically modified content of new crop," he added.

US exporters say it is not feasible to segregate gene-crops in cargoes as the cost is too high.

One trader said importers had agreed to bid for the 20,500 tonnes last Thursday on the basis of trust between the parties involved that the maize was 100 per cent US old crop.

Traders are entitled to bid on Thursday for up to 87,500 tonnes of non-EU maize, the balance of a renewed EU tender for 250,000 tonnes of reduced-duty maize for Spain. The last tender is due on October 15.

The annual two-million-tonne preferential quota for Spain was set up to compensate US farmers for lost markets after Spain joined the EU in 1986.

At a tender on September 10, the EU awarded 142,000 tonnes of non-EU maize for Spain. Of the total 112,000 tonnes came from the United States and 30,000 from Argentina.

For much of this yearimporters had shunned US supplies in favour of Argentina or eastern Europe due to confusion over gene-crops in the European Union.

Traders said they expected prices of grains imported to Spain and Portugal to remain under pressure in the next few weeks as European harvests came in.

"Almost every day, as you harvest more crop, the prices keep falling," said a Barcelona trader.

Low volumes of Spanish maize from the Extremadura region in the west were sold to Portugal and small quantities of French maize crossed into northern Spain by truck in the past week, traders said.

They noted that imported feed wheat prices were also depressed as wheat was competing with cheap maize.

Spanish traders said rain had delayed maize harvesting by a few days in some regions of Spain, including Extremadura, edging up prices for immediate delivery, but they saw no impact on prices for October to December delivery.

They said that if the weather was dry, maize harvesting in the main growing areas of Spain should enterfull swing between the second and third week of October.

Madrid traders said they expected the Spanish maize harvest to stand at 3.8-3.9 million tonnes this year, 200,000-300,000 tonnes below the 1997 crop. The Agriculture Ministry has forecast 1998 production of 3.9 million tonnes, down from 4.4 million in 1997.

Traders quoted domestic maize Seville-Cordoba ex-farm at 21,500-21,700 pesetas per tonne last week, compared with 21,500 pesetas the previous week.

They quoted French maize for October delivery by truck to Lerida in northern Spain at 21,700. No comparative figure was available for the previous week.

Maize harvesting was in full swing in central and southern Portugal last week, boosting pressure on warehousing and reducing demand for imports, Lisbon traders said.

They quoted domestic maize ex-drier from the Ribatejo region in central Portugal for October delivery at 27,000 escudos per tone last week, down from 28,000 the previous week.