Canadian shipments a month behind | Japan buys more wheat from the U.S.
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) — Japan hopes to ward off extended shipping delays in Canada by buying more U.S. grain and Canadian wheat scheduled for June delivery.
Canada’s record canola and wheat harvests have clogged its rail arteries and overwhelmed its ports, delaying shipments and creating logistical bottlenecks that threaten to last at least into spring.
Japan’s agriculture ministry bought 50,310 tonnes of hard red winter and 82,454 tonnes of dark northern spring grades from the United States, as well as 99,522 tonnes of Canadian western red spring wheat for arrival in late June.
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Japan typically buys 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes each of the five grades of food quality wheat from the United States, Canada and Australia in tenders typically issued three times a month.
“There were worries if shipments from Canada will be able to arrive or not, so we were asked (by millers) to take additional supply from the U.S.,” a farm ministry official said.
Grain industry sources in Tokyo said wheat shipments to Japan from Canada are delayed by about a month.
“The problem is (Canada) has too much crop and no outlets, so shipments have been slow,” one of the sources said.
The bumper crop has overwhelmed Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, resulting in a combined backlog of 40,000 grain hopper cars.
Japan bought 284,161 tonnes of food quality wheat in the regular tender, which is nearly all of the 312,816 tonnes it tendered for Feb. 4.
The official said the 28,655 tonnes of western red spring that the ministry failed to buy would likely be rolled into a future tender, but he was unsure when that would be because Feb. 11, when the tender is normally issued, is a national holiday in Japan.
Mostly likely it would be in a day-delayed tender Feb. 12, he said.
Japan keeps a tight grip on imports of the country’s second most important staple after rice and buys the majority of the grain for milling via the tenders.
