Does the CWB have the right to spend money like this?

[bobn]

CWB to expand presence
By Jiang Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-13 06:05


The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), the sole exporting agency of Canadian wheat and barley, is poised to increase its presence in China by providing updated wheat processing technologies for Chinese mills and food processors.

Adrian Measner, president and chief executive official (CEO) of CWB, expected that its annual wheat sales to China will grow to 3 million to 4 million tons in the next three years.

The CWB sold 1.8 million tons of wheat to China in the 2003-04 crop year and 2.5 million tons of wheat in 2004-05.

"Although we are likely to see a decline in wheat exports to China in this crop year because of a smaller crop in Canada, I still hope the quantity will enjoy a steady growth in the coming years," Measner said.

The CEO recognized that, in the four decades the CWB has been doing business with China, the country has increased its demand for grain products, in particular high-quality products. He said Chinese customers are looking for better quality wheat partly because they use some of this wheat as planting wheat, and expect it to improve the quality of local wheat.

"It (the Chinese market) is different from some other markets, such as some Middle East countries and Latin American countries, which demand medium-quality wheat."

Therefore, the board will continue to focus on quality in China.

"We will sell to China the best quality wheat we can supply," Meanser said.

"Due to strong economic growth and increased demand for premium-quality, wheat-based foods, China is expected to become an even more important market for western Canadian wheat," he added.

Measner said that within four years the organization will sell to China one-third of the nation's barley imports, around 10 percentage points higher than the current level.

In order to increase its sales and market share in China, the CWB and its largest trade partner in China, the China Cereals Oilseeds and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO), is planning to set up a training and technical centre in Beijing.

"It will allow us not only to show our products to our customers, but also to demonstrate how the wheat can be used most efficiently," he said.

Chinese users of CWB wheat and barley include Tsingtao Brewery Co Ltd and Yanjing Brewery.

Measner believed the centre, which is scheduled to open in April 2007, will support China's milling and food-processing industry.

Through training, educational seminars, technical exchanges and technical support, the centre will provide Chinese wheat processors with the information they need to make the most of this high-quality product, he said.

The CWB will provide initial funding of US$1 million to establish the centre. Operating costs will be shared between the CWB and COFCO.


(China Daily 01/13/2006 page10

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/13/content_512012.htm

[silverback]

Does China have to pay plant breeders rights on the wheat they import?? Or are we the only ones who would face heavy fines for not playing by the rules????

[bobn]

I found this little tidbit about COFCO. It appears they like to pass out brown envelopes containing cash or casino chips as "gifts" to government officials. It's comforting to know our hard earned money is being invested in partnership with such an honest corporation! I'm sure the CWB and COFCO always have prairie farmers' interests at heart and wouldn't waste any of our money!

"The committee is holding a hearing today with Parish expected to be the lead witness. The Arizona Republic reported in March that Parish, in violation of State Department rules, accepted free lodging at corporate apartments in Las Vegas and Norwalk, Calif., in 1995 and 1996 from China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import and Export Corp. The committee says Parish, who has denied any quid pro quo relationship, was providing visa assistance at the request of Mann and others so that officials of the conglomerate, known as COFCO, could travel frequently to Phoenix and other U.S. destinations. State Department rules forbid embassy officials from accepting gifts from anyone seeking visas or other official action..... The Republic has learned that the new information includes: Mann gave Parish "a number of gifts," a former COFCO vice president, Jay Ding, has told the committee staff. Ding has told the panel's investigators that he saw Mann pass several wrapped boxes and an envelope to Parish while he was dining with COFCO and BNU officials in Beijing and Phoenix. Ding told the committee he didn't know what the gifts were. He said Mann mentioned a gold Rolex watch and $2,000 in casino chips in connection with Parish, but Ding is not sure she gave either to Parish. The committee said Parish stayed free of charge at a COFCO luxury suite in Scottsdale. The address could not be obtained from either the committee or Mann's office. Several e-mails in Parish's office suggest that Parish, at Mann's request, helped Fuli Lin, vice chairman of BNU, obtain a visa, according to the committee..... "The U.S. Embassy in Beijing is one of our most sensitive diplomatic posts in the world," Burton said in a prepared statement. "It is unfathomable that these kinds of activities could go on right under the noses of top embassy officials for a year and a half."..."

http://www.alamo-girl.com/0301.htm

[Vader]

Western Canada is 80% dependant on exports of grains and oilseeds. China happens to be our largest export customer at this time. Obviously nobody is suggesting that we stop doing business in China. And by the way COFCO is a state trading import monopoly. You simply do not do business in China unless it is through COFCO.

Now how would you like Canada to do business with COFCO? Through a companyh like Cargill who have limited accountability to you the farmer or through the CWB who is subject to an intense amount of scrutiny and accountability?

Can you phone up you local Cargill rep and ask them for a market outlook meeting in your area? Do they send you a copy of their audited financial statement? Sure you can vote with your feet. You can go across the street to ADM, until Cargill buys ADM or ADM buys Cargill. Which one are you voting for on Monday?

[bobn]

Vader,

This has nothing to do with Cargill other than if I was a shareholder of Cargill and they were corrupt like COFCO I would be selling my shares immediately. This is another reason I am voting to get rid of being forced to deal with the CWB who chooses to deal with corrupt corporations.

I suppose you believe that CWB employees or Liberal government officials can't be swayed by lavish under the table gifts. Where have you been for the last several years? There is a difference between selling grain to an entity and going into business with them!

Why were no background checks done on this Corporation before giving them $1 million of farmers hard earned money?

[agstar77]

If you want to do grain business in China you deal with COFCO good or bad . Things will change in China, but with 1.3 billion people it will be extremely slow. We could throw up our hands and say some of their practices are corrupt, so we won't sell to them, but how would that help? Have you stopped buying cheap Chinese electronics because there is corruption in most of the large exporters? You could probably make a case for not trading with a number of importers on the basis of corruption including the U.S. eg. ADM,proven price fixers.

[bobn]

agstar77,

Maybe you should read my post better!!

"There is a difference between selling grain to an entity and going into business with them!"

[agstar77]

You did say deal?

[bobn]

agstar,

A better word than 'deal' would have been 'to partner with'.

It seems that another COFCO executive was linked to bank fraud:

"The Arizona Republic 4/4/99 Jerry Kammer "...The head of the new Chinese
Cultural Center wields wide financial influence, has powerful and
controversial contacts Elizabeth Mann, Arizona's most important business
connection to Beijing, has risen to prominence through mastery of what the
Chinese call "guanxi," the cultivation of contacts with powerful people.....
Two of Mann's contacts have been linked to major scandals. Another was
convicted of bank fraud in Georgia before coming to work for Mann. She
herself has been the subject of two criminal investigations. Mann, 46, was
known as Ning Yu before she became a U.S. citizen in 1992. She is the top
executive in Arizona for COFCO, a corporate giant owned by the Beijing
government."

http://beyond-the-illusion.com/files/Government/Executive-Branch/Clinton/Clinton-Files/0031.txt

[Vader]

I think it is most important to have checks and balances and internal controls. This is the only way to prevent fraudulent activity. It is still possible that somebody will attempt to engage in those types of activities. It is the business of the CWB to develop markets in China. That is in the best interest of the Canadian Farmers. If COFCO is the only game in town then that is the way it will be. The CWB can not be held accountable for the actions of others. It is up to the authorites in China to reign in any corrupt activites by those who do business in their country. The CWB can only due its due diligence for the business case at hand.

[agstar77]

So how would you suggest the CWB develop markets in China and with whom? Can we ignore this market? Market development is probably one of the most important things they do and is regretable that sometimes you must work with people that have unsavoury reputations at least according to our standards.

[bobn]

Vader,

I'm suggesting that western farmers and other Canadian grain businesses be allowed to form honest business relationships with any foreign buyer including any China based business. That is the only way we will get a level playing field. The alternative is what we have now:

- CWB favortism to it's supporters (interest free advances benefiting small farmer most)
- farmers paying large premiums for seed in order to get right to deliver 100% of their crop, (but when they sign a contract, the CWB tells us they changed their mind and we won't be allowed to deliver 100% afterall)
- 100% of #2 durum still on my farm in January
- CWB giving my money to Liberals
- $1 missing on wheat/durum from what it should be every year
- large carrying charges(delayed payments and carrying charges are substantial leaving a large gap between what they claim we get and what we end up with)

[parsley]

Go to

http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/

and scroll down to

Your taxpayers at work


agstar77: Maybe we'd better not be worrying if "THEIR practices are corrupt", and start worrying about Canadian practices.


and then there's Vader, vader, vader:


http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/154_2005-11-21/han154_1455-E.htm

"Mr. David Anderson (Cypress Hills—Grasslands, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal culture of entitlement is alive and well as the government goes about treating public institutions as its own private assets. For six weeks, we have demanded that the government raise the Canadian Wheat Board initial prices for western farmers. The government will not give farmers their own money because it is too busy spreading it out to its friends.

Farmers have been paying for David Herle, the king of untendered contracts and the Prime Minister's campaign manager, to attend Canadian Wheat Board meetings. Farmers are going broke while the Prime Minister's friends belly up to the trough. Why is the Prime Minister making things so hard for farmers but so easy for his friends?"

Vader you say,"The CWB can not be held accountable for the actions of others."

Is that because the Government is running the show for the CWB?

Parsley

[Jman]

BobBobin and Arthor:
Not that I am supporting the CWB, but how do you suggest that we export 80% of our wheat production without market development? How do you think the pulse growers grow their markets? Phone the Cdn Pulse Growers Assoc. to find out how much is spent on market development activities. Conversely, the Canola Council of Canada is a good example of wasted grower's check off funds. Lots of meetings and political rhetoric, and reduced export markets, and reduced premiums for canola with respect to palm and soy. The pulse growers growers spend lots of our check off money, and i'am glad they do, because they have helped develop our export markets. We as farmer are responsible to suport our commodity groups in their efforts to develop markets.

[food4u]

JMAN you said commodity group which the CWB is not,they are supposed to be a marketing agency.