11/14/06 Johanns to talk wheat in India

Farm and Ranch November 14, 2006 U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns is going to India later this week to discuss trade issues. One of the topics to be raised by the Secretary is wheat and India's stringent requirements on wheat imports. Johanns: "If you look at India's wheat purchases this year they have been very strong. They have gone out into the international marketplace and they have purchased wheat. We have not been successful on selling wheat into India because of not tariffs or anything like that, at least in this case, it is because their phytosanitary requirements cannot be made. It just creates an impossible burden for trade." The biggest issue, according to U.S. Wheat Associates Director of Policy and Government Programs Rebecca Coleman, is the presence of certain weed seeds. Coleman: "They basically list about 30 different weed seeds that are prohibited for import into India. And we have a very well regulated certification agency here, which is APHIS, and they just cannot certify that any shipment of U.S. wheat to India is free of all those weed seeds." India's regulations on weed seeds are described as being more fitting for wheat seed than milling wheat. Indian wheat imports went from practically nothing in the 2005-2006 marketing year to a projected six million tons in the current marketing year, but Indian officials says expansion of acreage and good weather so far for the 2007 crop may make them self sufficient again. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.