Wide World of Wheat

Anchor: And now from the Washington Wheat Commission comes “The wide world of wheat” grain industry headlines from around the world. Egypt is not a premium wheat buyer, but recent shipments to the country from Russia don’t even meet the country’s low quality threshold. As a result, Egypt has quarantined more than 52,000 metric tons of wheat. Dead bugs, impurities and weed seeds above the allowable limit were found in the Russian shipment. Egypt remains Russia’s biggest consumer of wheat. Major wheat growing organizations in Australia and Canada have announced plans to work with United States growers to commercialize genetically modified wheat crops simultaneously. In addition to U.S. wheat groups, signatories of the agreement include the Grain Council of Australia, the Australian Grain Growers Association, the Pastoralist and Graziers Association of Western Australia, Grain Growers of Canada, the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association and the Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission. Despite reports that Pakistan’s wheat harvest is 2 million metric tons more than the country needs for domestic consumption, the cabinet rejected proposals to allow wheat exports. The cabinet feared the repeat of an earlier export snafu when it was later discovered the country had less wheat on hand then believed. As a result, Pakistan wound up importing wheat at three times the cost as it sold its exported crop. 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.