11/24/08 Who's not buying soft white wheat?

Farm and Ranch November 24, 2008 We are approaching the half-way mark in the 2008-2009 wheat marketing year and as implied by soft white wheat prices, exports of this wheat class grown in the Pacific Northwest have not done well. Squires: "Currently we are about 46% below last year's export sales pace." That is Glen Squires, vice president and economist with the Washington Wheat Commission. So who is buying less soft white this year? Squires: "The big driver in that decrease is Yemen. They are down about 490-thousand metric tons, 84%. They have just been purchasing from others. There are a number of countries that are down. The Philippines are down, export sales are down 30 percent. Korea is down 34%. Indonesia is down 77%. You know that is 500-thousand metric tons right there." Or over 18 million bushels. There is just a lot more wheat available this year around the world including soft gluten wheat. And some buyers are awaiting the Australian crop to hit the market. Squires: "We hope that we will be able to be competitive with the Australian crop coming on. A lot remains to be seen as to what happens after the first of year. There is some concern that some of the Australian wheat is of lower quality. If that materializes, that will certainly benefit us." I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.