01/19/05 Black Sea wheat and PNW exports

01/19/05 Black Sea wheat and PNW exports

Farm and Ranch January 19, 2005 In recent years, U.S. and northwest wheat growers have had to compete in the world market not only with traditional wheat exporters like Australia, Canada and the European Union, but with the non-traditional Black Sea region exporters, Russia, Ukraine and Kazakstan. U.S. Wheat Associates vice president for overseas operations Vince Peterson, who spoke in Spokane recently, talked about the markets in which that Black Sea wheat competes against Pacific Northwest soft white wheat. Peterson: "For PNW producers, the Mediterranean markets of Egypt and perhaps down to Yemen, North Africa, where some of our soft white wheat has gone, in some pretty big numbers, are probably the most sensitive markets that we need to look at from the PNW." If the Black Sea producers have the price advantage, how do we compete? Peterson: "The place that we have the leg up on those countries is that they are not sophisticated producers in terms of varieties and quality matching what they produce to any kind of market demand for it. So that is where we have the ability, particularly the PNW which are quite high quality wheat producers. So, I think that is a place we can promote the advantages, the continuity of supply, the reliability of supply, the consistency of quality, the end use performance characteristics. All the things that we have the advantage of here that they don't have over there." Tomorrow, Peterson on some other non-traditional and occasional wheat exporters, India and Pakistan. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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