05/03/05 Competition for Egyt wheat market

05/03/05 Competition for Egyt wheat market

Farm and Ranch May 3, 2005 In four out of the last five years Egypt has been the biggest market for U.S. wheat exports. It has also in recent years been a leading market for Pacific Northwest white wheat. But John Oades of the U.S. Wheat Associates office in Portland, Oregon, says the re-emergence of Russia and the Black Sea region as a wheat exporter has made for some tough competition in the Egyptian market. Oades: "The Black Sea wheats out of Russia and the Ukraine have been entering the Egyptian market pretty aggressively at substantial discounts to U.S. wheat. Perhaps most concerning recently the government side buyer in Egypt was buying Black Sea wheat. Previously all of the Russian wheat going in there was on the private side and the big government buyer is the one that has bought a lot of soft white from us. So that is kind of a concern lurking on the horizon." Recently U.S. Wheat Associates and the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service sponsored a week long trip to the United States of two key Egyptian officials most directly involved in the wheat trade. Those officials visited Washington D.C., Kansas and Portland, Oregon. One of the Egyptian officials emphasized the importance of continuing a cash transfer program operated by the U.S. Agency for International Development which he described as being essential in Egypt's ability to buy the qualities and quantities of U.S. wheat they need. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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