Wheat Duties

[agstar77]

Commerce department ordered to refund duties charged on Canadian Wheat imports from 2003 to 2006.

[bucket]

Spent 15 million to get 100 grand back. I know its the principal of the whole mess but why, if it benefits all industries are the western canadian farmers on the hook for the bill?

[agstar77]

Ask your M.P.

[Fransisco]

The only reason it happened in the first place was because of the monopoly. Not the wheat board, not because it was wheat, but because of the monopoly.

Tell your MP that.

[chuckChuck]

Francisco,
Ever heard of R calf? Do you know anything about the softwood lumber issue? How do you explain all the trade challenges that protectionist US politicians and industries have fostered over the years on a wide variety of products that had nothing to do with the CWB? Blaming the monopoly is politically convenient for you but lacks credibility. Wheat protectionism won't end if the CWB loses its' monopoly. In fact it could get alot worse if Canadian farmers try to fill northern tier elevators with Canadian grain.

[Fransisco]

You've got to be kidding? Can you name one other grain that has seen a trade challenge? Canola ? Oats? peas?

Give your fear-mongering a rest already, and actually think for a change. It's not that more wheat is going to go south it's that the price is going to come north.

Do you honestly believe that the grain companies up here are just going to shrug their shoulders and say oh well we can't get the wheat for $1.80 less than the world price so we may as well just give up?

They are going to compete chuckchuck.

And yes it's a $1.80 difference on winter wheat as of Friday's close.

[Fransisco]

And why do you think they keep going after the monopoly? If it actually raised the world price, if it actually was able to get better prices out of the market why would they keep going after it?

The reason is simple and it is clear. The CWB actually lowers the price of every market it gets into by underbidding everyone else. And the only reason they can do that is because of the monopoly. We have no choice but to give them our grain no matter what the price is.

[Fransisco]

BTW- How many trade challenges has the Ontario Wheat Board had to face?

If I recall correctly its a very round(0)number.

[GrainBeetle]

Franny: Your Oats, Peas and Canola example it isnt relevant. The US is a net importer of Oats and Canola - (Canola is a small niche market there). They are net exporters of wheat.

The amount of CDN Peas exported to the US is also to small start a trade challenge.

I would instead compare the politics of wheat to that of cattle, pigs and lumber - No CDN single desk on these products.

Franny, how has COOL affected YOU? I hope you don't expect CDN tax payers to pay for these trade challenges. That would be socialist.

[parsley]

Is feed barley relevant?

[charliep]

Interesting question by Parsley. Canada has
imported far more US corn than exported feed or
malt barley. The US has never had a trade action
on barley (except on the cattle action when they
argued the Canadian government used the CWB as
a methodology to keep feed barley cheap in
western Canada).

I note the $100 mln (or whatever). If the US gives
this money back (I note the expression IF), what
should be done with it?

1) Put into general revenue by the federal
government?

2) Held outside the CWB and instead invested in
something that will benefit the grain industry
(research and development, market development,
etc). Decision could be made by the federal
government, a combination of industry and
government or industry.

3) Given back to the CWB to redistribute among
farmers who delivered grain into the 2003/04 to
2006/07 pooling years.

4) Given to the CWB to be deposited into the
2008/09 (maybe some 2007/08) pooling accounts.

5) Given to the CWB to be deposited into the
contingency fund.

[Fransisco]

Oh yes I keep forgetting wheat in Western Canada is somehow magically different from every other grain and is different than wheat from anywhere else in the world.

It is exactly like pigs, right up until someone points out that all the former hog monopolies in Canada are doing just fine thank-you very much.

Then it goes back to being different than everything else in the world again.

Sorry, that dog don't hunt.

[parsley]

The topic is duties, and I want to make a comment about the Canadian Wheat Board duty.

When the CWB Act was passed in Parliament in 1947, one particular section of the CWB Act pertained to a collecting a national duty. The legislators referred to it as a national tarriff. This duty section of the Act applied to all exports and imports, of wheat and feed grains and flax.

This duty applied to all importing and exporting regions of the country.

This duty is described in the part of the Act that the CWB has now nicknaned "the buyback" 46(d)/14(b)

This is what has taken place while we snoozed....The Wheat Board has transformed an Act of Parliament from being a national tarriff requirement, to being a regional tax against Westerners, and all of it was accomplished by talking fast and laying low, and doing it by spending your dollar.

And the CWB have done it without shame, and without guilt.

Wheat duties are supposed to be national.

According to the constitution, the Government of Canada cannot impose a national tax upon only ONE region of the country.

Parsley

[vvalk]

The problem the americans have with the CWB is that american companies have to buy and pay for the wheat at the same time they sell it. They make a margin. Their selling price is set by what they can buy it for. The CWB can come in and sell at whatever price it takes to get the sale. ( usually at a discount ) Then they pay the farmer up 18 months later. CWB supporters try to take the religious side of this aside. Just think about it. If you sold widgets for $5. If your competition (CWB) came in and sold them for $6, why would you slap a law suit on them? You would sell out of your widgets before they sold one. There would be a problem though when you pay $4.50 for your widget and sell them for $5 and the CWB pays $2 up front comes in and sell them for $4.75 and has over a year to pay the $2.75 to its suppliers.

[TOM4CWB]

Grainbeetle... you said:

"The amount of CDN Peas exported to the US is also to small start a trade challenge."

Ever wonder why?

Could it be that in an efficient effective marketing system... lower western Canadian handle charges mean that the best way to the export market... is off the west/east coast of Canada... IF we could be consistent shippers!

And since peas are non-board... guess what!

There is virtually no pressure to ship south of the 49th... because... we have the same basic marketing system... with transparency.

Obviously this is not the case with wheat!

Canola is WORTH MORE in Canada than in the US... because it to is non-board.

Even flax works its way through... without inter border pressures!

Oats are grown here... and shipped south... because US growers have a higher cost of production... and a transparent market will allocate resources to the most effective producers... once again proving peas, canola, oats, flax, and other non-board grains trade freely... because we use the same system of transparent marketing!

We would appreciate the opportunity to achieve US prices... and BETTER... in Canada for Wheat, Durum, and Barley...just like we do for Canola... as well!