Canadian wheat 'too expensive'

[cchurch]

Wed, May 5th, 2010 6:23 pm BdST

Dhaka, May 05 (bdnews24.com)- Bangladesh fails to import Canadian wheat because it is too expensive said the food and disaster management minister Abdur Razzak on Wednesday.

The minister was speaking at the inauguration of a workshop jointly organised by the Canadian High Commission, the Canada Wheat Board and the Canadian International Grain Institute for the wheat traders of Bangladesh in the capital.

He said that whilst Bangladesh's flour and bread factories import wheat from Canada, the government simply cannot do so as the price is so high even though the wheat is said to be highly nutritrious.

The minister said that the country imports two million metric tons of wheat every year – mostly from Russia - against a demand of three million metric tons.

He mentioned that the demand for wheat products has risen with the emergence of fast food shops in the country and the increased popularity of food made from wheat.

Canadian High Commissioner Robert McDougall, Ashok Sarkar and Yvonne Supenee from the Canadian International Grain Institute and Donald Bonner from the Canada Wheat Board were also present in the inauguration ceremony of the workshop.

bdnews24.com/mk/aam/db/1815h

[Koldkanuck]

No need to worry, our glorious CWB will give our wheat away at bargin prices.

[SASKFARMER3]

Is this one of our prefered suppliers.
HM makes me wonder.

[tipsy]

Would Bangladesh be one of the Indian countries that imports .40 cent a lb lentils? If so, they think .07 cent a lb wheat is to much, huuum.....

[hlg]

Make up your mind. People are mad when grain is sold too low and mad when we hold out for higher price. Why should anyone listen to our concerns???

[bucket]

If they are not one of our high paying customers - why waste the time with cwb and cigi officials over there?

If it just a matter of matching Russia's price, why bother sending them the red carpet treatment?

It is all about price not quality - why bother?

Seems it is a waste of effort.Wait til canada has a frost and is loading up with feed wheat, then go and dump wheat to a customer like that.

[Fransisco]

Simple solution, let me sell it myself and I'll have no choice but to be happy with what I can get.

[cottonpicken]

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?
from=CAD&to=BDT

[stubblejumper]

Fran if you wanted to sell grain to any offshore country I would say go for it. All you want to do is price grain inot the easy high price American market and leave the lowere priced markets to the rest of us.

[Fransisco]

Stubble, if you think the price in American elevators, particularly the ones in the northern states do not reflect world prices then I would ask you to prove it. Please show all of us how the Americans don't export any wheat.

[Fransisco]

BTW- Our canola, oats, soybeans, peas, sunflowers, etc,etc get sold everywhere around the world without any problem. Wheat would be no different.

[cityguy]

The US has a base customer list where they will always sell wheat to for various reasons - quality/geography/credit. The fact is that this year their export program is about 850 million bushels which is basically the lowest it's been in close to 40 years. It will be interesting to see what the USDA thinks next years number is when they come out with a balance sheet on Tuesday. Chances are it won't be much higher. In addition, there's a good chance that the carry out will be over 1 billion bushels- essentially half the crop.The US has completely lost the Egytian market to the point the US doesn't even bother. On the last Iraq business done over the past week or so there's been Australian, Russian, Canadian all been sold. No need to rehash the cheap Saudi sales from last fall, but there have been three to four tenders since of which Canada hasn't been the only seller - but no US in the mix at all. There is absolutley no question from anyone in the trade that the US is a high priced island. That all being said, the US farmer has the choice of whether he wants to sell or not, and it's pretty clear that they are choosing to basically sell half the crop (and remember that they'll use more at home then they export) and keep half the crop. You guys are stuck with the CWB choosing for you whether to sell a portion at US prices and make you carry the rest or if they'll basically get it mostly sold with a mix of high US prices and lousy world prices.

[Fransisco]

Sorry but I just don't buy into the notion that US domestic customers pay more for their wheat than they have to. There's no Berlin wall around the US, wheat can come in from anywhere just like it can be exported to anywhere.

[gapper18]

Fran, your confusing me here because you truly have your head in the graound. At the top of the thread your mad at the CWB for trying to sell wheat for a high price, then your mad at them since you think they'll sell low, make up your mind! As for the prices in the states, check around, american wheat is selling for over a dollar a bushel less than it is up here. If you think that your going to be able to sell into the US and get that government payout for $6 durum, or any other grain, your dreaming. The US subsidizes American farmers, and they won't give you, a Canadian, the same payout. American elevators do not reflect world prices, the government pays them for their products despite prices being below their costs of production. It's obvious your against the CWB, but I'll put it to you this way, if the CWB is so bad for Canadian growers, why does every main grain exporting country in the world want it abolished, stating that it is an unfair advantage for Canadian growers?

[Fransisco]

It's not that the board is trying to sell wheat at higher prices it is that it constantly and consistently fails to sell wheat at higher prices. The proof is in our farmgate returns which year after year are below average.

And when I talk about US elevator prices I talk about them before any subsidies are factored in, and guess what they are almost always higher.

The cash bid right now today in Bottineau ND for 14% spring wheat is $5.31 USD In Berthold its $5.54USD in Fortuna it's $5.30 USD all of these prices are before any subsidies kick in.

The 09-10 PRO(which keep dropping) says it might get me $5.03 CAN. I'm sure it will be even less by the time we get to the final payment.

You don't need US style subsidies to beat the Board all you need is to be able to sell your wheat on the open market.