Arason Says........US Wheat Associate Says

[parsley]

ALL ARE DIRECT QUOTES FROM THE US WHEAT ASSOCIATES


Special deals revealed—Responding to the CWB

In response to our article "Special deals revealed" in the December 28, 2006 issue, USW President Alan Tracy received a letter from Mr. Greg S. Arason, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) on January 30, 2007.

Wheat Letter quoted Mr. Mohamed Kacem, Director General of the Office Algérien Interprofessionnel des Céréales (O.A.I.C.), the Algerian state trading organization involved in wheat and durum production, handling and imports. His quotes came from a translation of an article in La Liberté, Quotidien National D'Information, an Algerian newspaper, under the headline "Algeria is a privileged customer." Mr. Arason asked that USW reprint his letter in Wheat Letter.

Following is Mr. Arason's letter, Mr. Tracy's response on Feb. 5, 2007, and a translation of the original article.

Mr. Arason's letter:

Dear Mr. Tracy:

I noticed your December 28, 2006, Wheat Letter and its reference to Algeria.

We have taken the liberty of advising the contents of your newsletter to Mr. Kacem, the Director General of the Office Algérien Interprofessionnel des Céréales ( O.A.I.C.).

Mr. Kacem has advised us that some of his comments in the original article in the French daily were not properly interpreted by the journalist.

Mr. Kacem feels the relationship between the CWB and O.A.I.C. is a commercial one first and foremost and that prices are based on international market values at the time of business.

A review of the original press article in French clearly shows that at no point does Mr. Kacem say that the O.A.I.C. enjoys "very low prices."

The main message in the Algerian newspaper article centered on the positive commercial relationship the CWB and O.A.I.C. have enjoyed since the early 1970's.

That longstanding commercial relationship is also built on quality assurance, mutual confidence and technical support.

I felt it necessary to provide you with our view on this matter. I ask that you correct this misunderstanding by reprinting this letter in the next edition of your Wheat Letter.

Yours truly,

Greg S. Arason
President and Chief Executive Officer

[parsley]

Mr. Tracy's response:

Dear Mr. Arason:

We received your letter of January 30, 2007, presenting your view on an article published December 28, 2006, in Wheat Letter referencing a news article quoting Mr. Mohamed Kacem, the Director General of the Office Algérien Interprofessionnel des Céréales ( O.A.I.C.).

You make one specific point and one specific request I'd like to address.

You indicate that "at no point does Mr. Kacem say that the O.I.A.C. enjoys 'very low prices.'" After reviewing the original article published in French December 17, 2006, on page six in La Liberté, Quotidien National D'Information, we agree that the translation we used originally was inaccurate, and we apologize to Mr. Kacem for quoting him incorrectly.

However, the article does attribute the following statements directly to Mr. Kacem:

"The guarantee is that the Canadian government carries out the quality controls on the products," he [Mr. Kacem] adds, stressing that the selling prices in Algeria are well-studied, since in fact preferential prices are applied to our country.

This preferential price saves Algeria several tens of dollars per tonne "There is no other country which grants such advantages to us."

Thus we believe the meaning of the statement matches the conclusion we made in Wheat Letter that the buyer believes he got below-market prices.

Parsing the language of the translation does not change the message that CWB appears to have bought its durum market share in Algeria at the expense of western Canadian producers.

You also asked that U.S. Wheat Associates reprint your letter in the next edition of Wheat Letter.

We are happy to do so along with the correctly translated article from Liberté, Quotidien National D'Information as well as to acknowledge our inaccurate original translation.

In return, we ask the Canadian Wheat Board to reprint this letter on its Web site where your letter to USW is posted.

Sincerely,

Alan T. Tracy
President

[parsley]

NOW THIS IS WHAT YOU CALL BENDING OVER BACKWARDS.


Original article, Dec. 17, 2006, La Liberté, Quotidien National D'Information, page six; translated from the French by the CWB:

Canadian Wheat Board
"Algeria is a preferred customer"

By: Hamid Saïdani

Canada sells an average of 400,000 to 500,000 tonnes of wheat to Algeria annually.

For years, Canada has been the sole supplier of durum wheat to the Office algérien interprofessionnel des céréales [OAIC – Algerian Interprofessional Grain Board], and it seems likely to remain in that position for a long time to come.

Canada offers the Algerian organization an array of guarantees and advantages that cannot be found elsewhere.

And the quality of the current crop can only serve to strengthen the exceptional relationship between the two parties.

The seminar on the quality of Western Canadian wheat for 2006 organized yesterday by the Canadian Wheat Board at the Mouflon d'Or hotel allowed Algerian and Canadian representatives to discuss this crop and its characteristics.

OAIC General Director Mohamed Kacem said he believes the quality of this year's Canadian crop is "excellent".

According to Kacem, the Bureau's choice of Canada as sole supplier is based on a number of objective factors that mean "Algeria gains a lot in every respect from this time-tested relationship that is built on confidence."

"It's the Canadian government that guarantees the quality of the product, since it carries out the quality controls," he points out, emphasizing that selling prices in Algeria are carefully studied, since our country receives preferential prices, which save Algeria tens of dollars per tonne purchased.

And quality monitoring allows Algeria to save over a dollar per tonne processed.

According to Jean-Benoît Gauthier, a manager representing the Canadian Wheat Board in Europe, Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa, Canada sells an average of 400,000 to 500,000 tonnes of wheat to Algeria annually.

However, the benefits of doing business with Canada do not end there: according to Kacem, Canada also provides technical assistance in the form of training for executives from the OAIC and the agricultural sector.

In addition, the Canadian supplier pays the loading costs, and facilitations are offered with regard to the method of payment.

"No other country offers us these advantages," says Kacem. And Gauthier confirms the privileged status Algeria enjoys in its trade with Canada, stating that Algeria "is one of Canada's traditional customers, and our relationship goes back to the early 70s."

According to Gauthier, trade between the two countries remains strong in spite of a drop in Algeria's purchases in recent years, due to the increase in local production stimulated by the National Agricultural Development Plan (Plan national de développement agricole – PNDA).

The CWB representative believes that "the relationship between Algeria and Canada in this area is more than just commercial, but it is also a partnership, since many Algerian executives benefit from training or professional development programs in Canada."

With regard to the marketing operation conducted by the Canadian Wheat Board, Gauthier says although "we travel throughout the world to inform our partners about the characteristics of our crop," Algeria "is of primary importance."

In other words, despite the fact that they have exclusive access to some markets thanks to the beneficial policy they offer their customers, Canadians are quite prepared to travel around the world to sell their products.

[winwin]

Listen Parsley,Algeria is a fellow socialist dictatorship AND afellow member of lafranco phoney.Why should we not try and help their revolution?We help our comrades in Cuba and china and when we had a dictator in Iraq;we were there.If the job of the cwb was to get the peasentry more dollars they'd have wtitten it in the law.It isn't.Never has been.You are part of something much greater,more important than YOU-to serve the state.Yeah baby!

[parsley]

So how would a farmer get a good contact with Algeria?

[Incognito]

The Gordo Gekko of Grain...Greed is Good....

phone Machej

[mustardman]

Parsley I would like to get the article in French

I do not trust the USW's take on this after all haven't they taken us to court 14 times accusing us of under cutting their price in U.S.

And we did win by the way.

So find me the article in French let me interpret it myself not have it done by USW

After all you don't ask fundamentalist christians to interpret the bible for you.
They're version might be colorful but far from accurate.

[parsley]

Your bible did the enterpretation.

Look at the posting again:

"translated from the French by the CWB"

Are you doubting the CWB's interpretation?

Parsley

[dolin]

in french www.liberte-algerie.com/edit.php?

[parsley]

mustardman,

Let's get a better sense of your sense.

mustardman doubts the authenticity of the translating of a French version of a piece of infomation initially made available to DA farmers by ONLY the US Wheat Associates, not by the CWB.

Should your concern focus on why the CWB didn't make the info readily available to DA farmers first? This is about farmers' cents.

Can you imagine how mustardman would rant and howl, if Eagle Sterling was listed as an accredited exporter (AE's handle farmers' dollars and cents) and turned out to be, say....Charlie Mayer?
or Otto Lang?

The first thing mustardman would ask is how come the US told us, why didn't the CWB tell us?

Sense....It's playing hide and seek with you mustardman.

Parsley

[chaffmeister]

If dolin's link doesn't work (didn't work for me), try this:

http://www.lepointeco.com/lepointeco/lire.php?ida=759&idc=46

There were actually a few publications in Algeria that picked up the story....

[dolin]

http://www.liberte-algerie.com/edit.php?id=69167 now i think you will get it

[mustardman]

Parsley you like to assume too much.

The USW interprets "preferential prices" as being "low low prices"

There is a difference.

I get preferential prices when I buy my inputs. Are they "low low prices" ?

No.
I do buy in quantity so yes there is a discount, as it is less trouble to sell to one farmer than 6.

Why didn't USW or its Canadian sattelite group ,WBG use the term "preferential prices" ? in its press release?

Algeria has been our most important durum customer for years, the reason we still have durum supplies on farm for the last few years is due to better crops in that region.

Albeit some of our high protein quality durum was shipped directly to US mills.


The US recently came up with a bilateral agreement with Morocco, in order to "buy" market share on durum.

You know Parsley during WWII the french people who sided with the
Nazis were executed for treason.

I sometime wonder if the WBG and the WCWG are in the same situation.
They often go to wheat grower meetings in North Dakota and give misinformation That fuels the fire from South of the border. The next thing you know another trade action is started .
Maybe if there was a threat of a treason charge they would think before they speak. { tongue planted firmly in cheek }

[charliep]

Wouldn't wreck the canola thread on carryover but have to comment here.

Canola - discussion whether the carryover will be closer to 1 or 1.5 MMT. Issue - will canola prices be closer to $9/bu or $10/bu. Full payment at time of delivery. Farmer makes their delivery decision directly with a grain company. Free movement both ways across the border.

Durum - Discussion about treason and whether people should be dealt with appropriately.

[mustardman]

Parsley - one more question, if you do farm and I presume you do, how do you find so much time to spend on this website??