There were rumblings south of the border last week when the North Dakota Wheat Commission outlined grievances with how the Canadian Wheat Board does business.
The American commission described the Canadian Wheat Board as a price-distorting monopoly that is out of vogue in an increasingly privatized world market.
The commission said it will press for changes to the wheat board through trade negotiations, but it did not rule out trade action.
The commission’s marketing director, Jim Peterson, said it wants the issue moved up the list of American priorities during the upcoming round of world trade talks.
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“It’s definitely going to be a battle,” Peterson said in an interview last week.
Commission responds
The wheat commission outlined its views in a three-page letter sent last week to North Dakota’s wheat growers. The letter responded to criticism from a group of growers who suggested the commission wasn’t doing enough to stop what they view as dumping of Canadian grain in the United States.
In the letter, the commission said the wheat board routinely undercuts U.S. spring wheat and durum prices in markets around the globe. The letter said the wheat board’s monopoly over export grains and barley are as price distorting as the European Union’s export subsidies.
Commission chair Alan Lee said in a Nov. 1 interview that the likelihood of trade retaliation against Canada’s grain industry is high unless changes are made to the wheat board, including greater transparency in its pricing of grain.
The wheat commission said it has consulted with at least six legal firms about possible remedies for Canadian trade practices. In its letter to North Dakota growers, the commission did not outline its strategies.
“It is in North Dakota’s best interest to keep the Canadian Wheat Board guessing as to what actions we are prepared to take and for what they must prepare,” said the letter, signed by Lee.
