08/04/08 Exporters boost dockage discounts

Farm and Ranch August 4, 2008 Dockage could be up in this year's PNW wheat crop and farmers will be paying for that. Tom Mick, CEO of the Washington Grain Alliance, says many Portland exporters have increased their discounts for dockage. Mick: "And there is no uniformity. Each exporter has his own program, but the dockage discounts are quite heavy this year. And the sad part is most farmers are not aware of this. They won't find until they get their settlement payments. But our customers overseas are demanding cleaner wheat. With the price of wheat they are tightening the specs and the exporters are forced to deliver the cleaner wheat to meet those specs. Now each exporter in Portland has cleaning facilities but they are trying to avoid that because it is so expensive to do it and they are trying to pass that cost up country." Mick elaborates on what overseas buyers are trying to avoid. Mick: "He doesn't want to pay for the dockage. Not only does he pay on a weight basis; he could say that all dockage is deductible on a weight basis but he still has to pay the freight on it. So pennies are counting right now at these price levels they are having to pay so we are seeing tighter and tighter specs." That leads Mick to make this prediction. Mick: "I do there is going to be a new business start around with cleaning wheat for farmers. I think you are going to see more and more of that." I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.