Ministry sources said the barter deal would be based on world prices.

"So we definitely are seeing an increasing trend toward barter deals."

The restricted national budget also encouraged the use of oil in barter deals.

Not all real estate barter deals involve multiple parties and products.

Furthermore, during negotiation stage of a barter deal, the seller must know the market price for items offered in trade.

Barter deals have to go through state-owned or licensed "trading companies."

Like most former Communist managers, he says he had little experience with barter deals.

Many big Western arms manufacturers have whole departments devoted to arranging barter deals.

Another question is whether it was proper to record revenue for what were essentially barter deals in which no cash exchanged hands.

The huge barter deal was negotiated during a visit to Moscow by Polish diplomats.

Other novel marketing ploys for the show include a barter deal with Manhattan Cable television and the use of play money.

Barter deals have replaced normal economic ties.

"We'll have to live with the fact that there will be barter deals," Mr. Walter said.

It is fine with her husband, Morton, who occupies himself doing multi-million dollar barter deals and raising horses.

Last week, Pepsico announced a barter deal with the Soviet Union valued at $3 billion over the next 10 years.

Republics producing oil, coal and cotton have similarly ignored central delivery orders in favor of barter deals.

"That gives us buying power there, which we can use on either end of an eventual barter deal," Mr. Binn said.

That's when I contacted the Scotties people and made a barter deal with them to get you up on stage at the Roosevelt.

She said Russia would probably offer more advanced systems, perhaps SA-10 surface-to-air missiles, at lower prices or in barter deals.

Today 50 executives work full time putting together barter deals, building transactions around debt-burdened utilities, rail lines, nuclear power plants and metal factories.

Occidental's largest Soviet venture is a 20-year barter deal for fertilizer chemicals, which was valued at $20 billion when it was struck in 1973.

But they already were doing that quietly for the last two years, venturing unofficially into quasi-marketeering, opening the first inter-republic bartering deals.

The largest remaining customer is North Korea, which last year bought 153 trolleys in an elaborate three-corner barter deal.

Government ministers have proposed banana barter deals, trading bananas for 2,000 buses or to pay for a river dredging project.

Mr. Benson is now involved in a few barter deals with the Robert Martin venture and finds the going difficult.