New Jersey will have to wait another two months to resume its efforts to lure Hunts Point produce merchants across the river. The city's Economic Development Corp. and the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market, a co-op of 115 merchants in the Bronx, agreed Friday to extend their exclusive lease negotiations to Aug. 31. The exclusive period was set to expire June 29. It is the second such extension as the two sides try to reach a deal on a long-term lease that would involve a massive $332 million redevelopment plan for market. New Jersey officials wooing the produce merchants have been barred from the negotiating table since June 2011. The Garden State would like to land the $3 billion market and its 3,600 jobs. New York state officials are working with their city counterparts to keep it here. Matthew D'Arrigo, president of the merchant co-op, said the majority of the merchants want to stay in New York. "At the same time," he added, "we also need to be careful about the deal we make because we'll be paying for it for 30 years." The merchants are expected to finance approximately $160 million to upgrade the 45-year-old market, which lacks adequate refrigeration and storage space, among other things. EDC spokesman Patrick Muncie said the government has raised $140 million in public funds and is just $20 million short of its goal.