GENEVA, July 30 (Reuters) - Negotiators scrambled on Friday for a dealto put stalled global free trade talks back on track, but the head of theWorld Trade Organisation (WTO) said the chances for success were finelybalanced.Several mainly poor nations raised objections to the latest draftoffering cuts in the huge subsidies rich nations pay their farmers as wellas calling for moves to liberalise global trade in manufactured goods andservices.One of the successes of the talks has been European Union pledges toend export subsidies on farm goods. U.S. officials also said they resolveda fight over aids to U.S. cotton farmers, which African nations say drivethem out of business.Success in the talks would lay the basis for continued negotiations inthe WTO's Doha Round that could give the world economy a long-term boost.Failure would mean a virtual rerun of the collapse of world trade talks inCancun, Mexico, last year.In a sign of the tough talking going on, chief mediators said thattheir initial midnight Friday deadline could slip into Saturday."A number of delegations saw improvements, but I have to admit it hangsin the balance," WTO chief Supachai Panitchpakdi told reporters, seemingto back off from earlier statements he was optimistic a deal could bestruck in the next 24 hours.He said key differences remained over reducing subsidies to farmers andin bringing down tariffs on manufactured goods."My sense is that delegations are willing to stay engaged and wouldlike to see a deal," he added.

"UNJUST, DECEIVING"Reaction to the new text from a range of nations was less thanenthusiastic. Japan and Switzerland, which want to retain high protectionon food imports to shield their farmers, said they were unhappy withsections of the deal on agriculture.But few went as far as Dominican Republic negotiator Osmar Benitez, whosaid parts of the deal were: "... unjust, unfortunate, deceiving,unbalanced and even immoral" while an Indonesian delegate said it had notfulfilled his country's "very modest expectations and needs"."After days of closed door negotiations, rich countries have delivereda deeply unbalanced text as a take or leave it option," said JoLeadbeater, head of the Brussels office of aid group Oxfam.

FIGHT OVER AGRICULTURE AND COTTONIn the text, the EU, which hands out 40 billion euros ($48.2 billion) ayear to its farmers, got new language to make sure rival subsidiser theUnited States does more to discipline its export credits in return for theEU scrapping its trade-distorting export aids.But officials from Brazil said they were still worried language ondomestic support to rich countries' farmers did not go far enough. The EU,United States and Brazil are part of a core group of trading nations, withAustralia and India, which said on Thursday they had agreed on farmreform.Brazilian diplomats said that some wording in the new draft did notmatch the terms of the accord struck by the five.The text also tightened limits on how rich nations shield so-calledsensitive products with high duties and included a commitment for a quickmove to cut domestic support for farmers. There were also tougherrestrictions on overall farm spending.U.S. officials said the fight over cotton subsidies had been resolvedin late night talks with African nations on Thursday. Cotton was one ofthe main causes of the Cancun collapse."We are pleased with the outcome and that we were able to work togetherto reach a compromise," said a U.S. official, who declined to be named.The draft also authorises negotiations for a customs code to fightcorruption, something richer states wanted.As well as remaining problems on agriculture, differences on industrialtrade have remained deep. Developing nations in particular do not want tobe asked to subject their markets to too much international competition byslashing import duties.One concession was that the draft recognised that many issues in theindustrial tariffs were difficult and could be left for furthernegotiations.