BRUSSELS, July 24 (Reuters) - U.S. grains merchant Bunge

and Glencore ( GLCNF )-backed Viterra's $34 billion merger

deal is heading towards conditional EU antitrust approval, a

person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.

The companies announced the deal to create one of the

world's largest agriculture trading firms a year ago to better

compete with market leaders Archer-Daniels-Midland ( ADM ) and

Cargill.

Bunge and Viterra earlier this month offered to sell

Viterra's crush and refining plants for oilseeds in Hungary and

Poland to allay EU competition concerns.

They will now tweak these offered remedies in return for the

European Commission's approval and following feedback from

market participants, the person said.

The Commission, which is scheduled to decide on the deal by

Aug. 1, and Bunge declined to comment.

The deal, which has been given a green light in Brazil,

faces regulatory headwinds and farm groups' concerns in Canada.

Bloomberg was the first to report about the imminent EU

approval.