The Wide World of Wheat from the Washington Wheat Commission

Anchor: And now from the Washington Wheat Commission comes "The wide world of wheat" grain industry headlines from around the world. North Korea, which has received food aid in the form of Northwest grown soft white wheat on several occasions, announced it will now reject American food shipments. A U.S. state department spokesman said North Korea gave no reason for rejecting U.S. food aid shipments, which help to feed the Communist country's 23 million people. The president of Zambia said the country could be self sufficient in wheat within the next two years if the trend toward growing the commodity continues. President Rupiah Banda commended farmers in the Mkushi farming block for increasing annual production from 30,000 metric tons to 190,000 metric tons in the last five years. Syria's state grain agency purchased 100,000 metric tons of Russian soft wheat through a Lebanese company recently at $209 a ton. A trader said Russian wheat is being offered very aggressively in the Middle East and more sales are expected. Russia's president, Dmitry Medyedy, signed a decree recently creating United Grain Company, a state-owned grain trader. The stated objective of the new company is to increase domestic grain purchases, promote export sales and build additional export capacity. I'm Bob Hoff. Anchor: The Washington Wheat Commission wants growers and citizens alike to understand their industry has global reach. A pebble thrown anywhere in the world of grain is felt as ripples by Washington's 13,000 growers and their landlords.