12/31/08 Wheat marketing "down under" and "up north"

Farm and Ranch December 31, 2008 The wheat crop farmers have been harvesting in Australia is the first they can market as they see fit to. The Australian Wheat Board no longer has a monopoly on the nation's wheat exports. Steve Wirsching with U.S. Wheat Associates in Portland says producer control will likely mean some changes in the pattern of Australian wheat marketing. Wirsching: "Hopefully it will be marketed in a more logical manner in that they will pay more attention to supply and demand and price signals than the Wheat Board did." The Canadian Wheat Board still has a monopoly on that country's exports and Wirsching describes how that single desk seller has impacted the market this year. Wirsching: "They basically held on to their stocks a little too long. Early in the year they were kind of absent from the market. I think they were absent from the market because they were hanging on to that wheat hoping for prices to go higher. And I think suddenly one guy woke up and said "Well I don't think prices are going higher this year so we better start moving some of that wheat." And next thing you know in the Philippines we are seeing discounts of $40 to $50 a metric ton for Canadian spring wheat versus U.S. spring wheat." Wirsching says hopefully someday we'll see a more voluntary board system north of us. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.