Is the CWB actually making any grain sales.

[craig]

Since our local elevator is considered a canola point it's hard to get a handle on whether the board has made sales and is calling wheat for shipment. You would have assumed that the CWB with it's astute marketing department would have made some early sales at better values yet we see nothing from the board to indicate that. I know our elevator is sitting on both winter wheat and CPS and were told there would be early shipment. Anyone got a handle on this.

[Zaphod]

I don't know about sales, but for non-durum, shipments are 22% behind last year and for durum, shipments are 40% behind last year. That's as of week 10 (first week of October). That can't be good for the pool accounts. I had been told the CWB was waiting until they knew the grades before making a lot of sales.

[furrowtickler]

That is why supply management of grains will never work for those who whine about the dairy and poultry sectors. The CWB has been playing God with our grains for too long, things must change.

[TOM4CWB]

Craig,

The CWB has been picking the 'low hanging fruit' 2CWRS 13.5... has been moving... a few bid trains of Select went out the 1st weeks of Sept... most don't know when CPS/STD CWRW will ship...

We need a vote ASAP... to take ALL CWRW away from the CWB AUG 1/09.

Winter Wheat Commission should demand that this be done... yesterday.

The theft going on is hard to stomach... time the CWB was put to rest on CWRW.

[checking]

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Mid Sept. last year the CWB rep told me that CWB had then sold maybe 15% of durum production. The CWB reasoning and rationale was supposedly that they needed to know the quality and quantity of the crop; there is no futures market for durum; Canada has 60% of world exportable durum supplies year after year; and their market intelligence foresaw a short world durum crop and the competitors had already basically sold their crop too soon. That all made perfect sense to me; and it looked like the CWB was going to do a credible marketing job for durum if prices didn't crash in next 6 months. Well they didn't crash; in fact were consistantly higher than the mid Sept prices.
$12.00 or so isn't in the ball ppark that the poorest marketer would have obtained had they had options other than forced delivery to the CWB.
Fast forward to a year later. (today) Its reported in this thread that the CWB hasn't made many sales because they need to know the quality of the crop. It looks to me like that wasn't the actual marketing strategy last year; in other words we are being lied to; or else our paid CWB agents are not competent. For those who use the CWB this year; I predict more dismal returns. The one thing producers could do is control 60% of the world exportable durum supplies.
I know what most are thinking. "I can't store it or build bins; and I need money to pay bills." BUT can you afford to not have arranged things so that this years crop will cover at least actual cost of replacing it with future potential production?