LONDON -- The European Commission, which gave the green light for a huge tonnage of wheat exports this week, looks set to restrict future shipments by shelving subsidies which make European exporters more competitive.

But European wheat prices will still be far cheaper than U.S. prices, which will encourage export sales despite the removal of the subsidy, Reuters quoted traders as saying.

On Thursday, the EU's grain management panel awarded export licenses for close to 1.4 million tons of wheat at its weekly tender.

The decision to award licenses for such a hefty tonnage -- a 15-year high -- was aimed at offsetting large imports at the start of the 2002/2003 season, an EU source said on Friday.

The European Union was a net importer of wheat last year, but is expected to return to its traditional role as an exporter this year as the bloc's abundant crop beats U.S. grain for price in world markets.

"We have already imported four times more wheat than last year in the same period so we had no option but export a little (this week), but there are limits to our generosity," he said. "Now we close the door."

In a bid to restrict exports, export licenses granted by the EU will for the time being no longer include an incremental scale of monthly refunds aimed at compensating traders for the storage of grain over the four-month license period.