CWB! Lowest price is the Law!

[Choice2U]

Sawfly....you don't know if the CWB made the right decision or not?? Why is it so hard for CWB supporters to understand that the decision made by the CWB of when and how much to sell and at what price should be MINE and not theirs. My only choice now is to play the CWB lotto games of FPC or BPC in which they have set the rules. Oh, and I have to pay a fee to do this. I could stay in the pool and TRUST them like you but I, unlike you, do not want someone else making those decisions. I don't need a DADDY any more. Too bad some farmers have never grown up.

[bucket]

choice2u

Well said.

[cityguy]

So a few things. First off, just to get it out of the way I certainly believe it's your wheat, your business, only you can best manage it. Second off, politicians of all stripes have a hand in the current system - red/blue/orange/pink - all of them. With regards to the Saudi business in one of the stories it was noted that the German's did the majority of the business. Fact is that they did 16 of the 18 cargo's and the CWB did two cargo's for shipment sometime between October and April - two. And they were of the 14% dry matter (europeans always quote protein as dry matter basis) which is our equivalent of about 12.2 protein. So it's not a "high" protein sale and if anyone is comparing to a "card" price then make sure you compare the 12.2 or 12.5 card price. As an aside, this past weekend the Egytians bought a couple of cargo's of hard wheat, one from Russia, one from the Ukraine. Am guessing that the CWB is figuring with all of this moisture around, with N leeching away, there's going to be more low protein out there again this year and if you have to sell that stuff it's the germans/russians/ukraine that you have to compete against. So they "test" the market with a couple of cargo's. What's scary is we don't know if the CWB price of your wheat pulled that $240 average up or down. As for US wheat, it's on the outside looking in relative to a multitude of origins - again. That being said, the US farmer is simply making the choice to maybe sell half at a relatively "high" price and keep the rest at home. Here, the CWB basically cleans out your wheat bins and whatever it takes to get the job done. They may pick and choose a few destinations where they can get a small premium, but they have to get down into the muck if they want to move it all - or at least all that you've collectively given (key word - given) them to move.

[Fransisco]

sawfly said, "do not know if this was a bad sale or not. but in the international market the lowest price is the law. do you think the board should not sell anything."

The Board and it's supporters all swear up and down that they get us a premium and that that is the reason they should be allowed to steal our grain.

So sawfly, even if they don't get us a premium you think they should still be allowed to steal our grain. Is that it?

[cityguy]

When people talk "premium" is the expectation that on any given day the CWB price delivered Cdn elevator has to be high enough to deter someone delivering the same grain to a US elevator? If it doesn't then has the CWB failed their "stakeholders"?

[charliep]

The CWB model is also about the ability to price differentiate. That
is, sell the same quality wheat on the same day in alternative
markets for different prices. It may sell at premium prices but it also
may discount to make sales. The combination of sales and timing is
what goes into a farmers pooled payments.

[Fransisco]

At the end of the day when all is said and done it's what goes in a farmers pocket that matters.

I suppose there are a number of different ways you could define "premium". But the lowest standard I can think of is that the price going back to the farmers pocket should at the very least be above average. And with the wheat board in charge it is lower than average time, after time, after time.

[cityguy]

above average of what though? average of prices received in US, above average of prices received in Australia, Ukraine, Argentina. Think that the pro-choice group has done a very poor job of picking a very public/transperant benchmark to hold the CWB accountable to on an ongoing basis and that the no-choice group has done a great job of hiding their pricing benchmarks. Randomly picking off US values, if indeed US equivalent is the benchmark, isn't good enough. Someone needs to be posting it - maybe on this site - US country bids for like protein, every day and at the end of every month/year say this was the average US price. There are issues such as how much was sold in the US on a daily basis that will distort things, no doubt, but have to start somewhere. Yes - there have been countless "studies" done but they all get thrown out as having a preconceived bias by the other side. but there's this endless "they get a premium, no they don't, do so, do not,do,don't" that goes on forever. At the end of the pay you'd think that the philosophy of choice would win out anyway, just on that alone, but it haasn't and it won't.

[samhill]

To me, it is more than about what is in my pocket at
the end of the day, it is about the freedom of my
property. Never mind the longshoreman strikes and
demeurage that I have to pay, the salaries,
comissions,and expenses of the CWB. The fact that
only a designated portion of the Canadian
population is subject to this. As well as held
hostage by CPR, CNR and the line companies, with
elevation, cleaning charges. People that are directly
connected to buying feed grains for livestock in
control. On top of that, we have to report
production and what we have to sell to the buyers.
And still compete with world markets for inputs.
The whole thing is indefensible, everyone knows it.

[charliep]

Because of the US farm programs, US prices are readily available - weighted average and
otherwise - are readily available. Example would be Montana.

<a href="http://wbc.agr.mt.gov/Producers/pricing_current.html">montana grain prices</a>

You can also to the USDA annual yearbooks plus other databases. US is the most open and
available price in the world. Why wouldn't a Canadian farmer use this as a benchmark? Why
wouldn't the same farmer want to access the US market?

It is interesting to me that feed barley cannot flow south but US will come north this year (cap
prices) unimpeded. It would seem to be a strange situation. If you are interest in another
weird situation, look at the differences in price between European competition and North
America malt barley prices. I guess your argument would have the reason for this as the CWB
ability to price differentiate. Does it do the western Canadian farmer any good in terms of sale
income?

[charliep]

Sorry about the winding sentence. Apple computers do strange things when you stretch lines to get imbedded links to work.

[charliep]

To the original topic. Why did the CWB make the Saudi sale? $240 CIF would
be less than $200 FOB. That would be $5/bu port or $4/bu elevator
driveway. I assume that if you are going to forward, you would want to lock
a high price that covered farmers cost of production?