The gulf between supporters and critics of the Canadian Wheat Board is often so wide it seems like they’re speaking different languages.
In the latest contretemps to gain public attention, they actually are.
The marketing agency says criticisms of the board’s grain pricing policies in Algeria are the result of an inaccurate and misleading translation of a French-language news article.
The rather confusing tale began when U.S. Wheat Associates carried in its biweekly newsletter in late December an item about a recent article in a French-language Algerian newspaper.
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According to the USWA, the article quoted an Algerian grain buying official as saying that CWB sells durum to that country for “very low prices” enabling it to save “several tens of dollars per tonne.”
The U.S. group went on to accuse the CWB of “buying market share” at the expense of Canadian farmers.
The USWA item was picked up by the Western Barley Growers Association, which used it as the basis for a Jan. 28 News release
news accusing the board of selling Canadian wheat at discount prices.
Then CWB minister Chuck Strahl picked up on the story, telling The Western Producer in an interview last week that Algerian officials say they’re happy to deal with Canada because they get a cut rate that no other country gives them.
“They (the CWB) sell way below market,” he said. “That’s a concern.”
CWB officials heatedly denied that.
“That comment is not accurate at all,” said the board’s chief operating officer Ward Weisensel.
“We are selling at fully commercial values to that particular market and have been for all the time we’ve been selling to that market.”
The reference to “very low prices” quoted in both the USWA and WBGA commentaries does not appear in either the original French article or a translated English version attached to the WBGA press release as background information. However, there is a reference to preferential pricing from the board.
The board has asked the USWA to set the record straight.
In a letter to USWA president Alan Tracy, the board’s chief executive officer Greg Arason said the Algerian official involved has since told the board his comments were misinterpreted, that the relationship between the CWB and Algeria is commercial in nature and that prices are based on international market values at the time of the transaction.
“The main message in the original press article in French centred on the positive commercial relationship between the CWB and (the Algerian trading organization),” Arason said, based on such things as quality assurance, mutual confidence and technical support.
Tracy could not be reached for comment, but a USWA spokesperson said last week the organization is reviewing the issue.
“We’re trying to develop a follow-up, so we’re not really prepared to comment at this point,” said Steve Mercer, director of communications for USWA.
He said the organization stands by its belief that the CWB offers discounted prices to undercut competitors, but acknowledged there are questions whether the phrase “very low prices” was accurate.
“That’s what we’re looking into,” he said.
WBGA president Neilsen said in an interview that even if the exact words weren’t properly translated, the thrust of the Algerian official’s comments were that the country receives preferential pricing from the CWB.
He said the association stands by its view that the board is leaving money on the table by underselling the market.
