SASKATOON – Farmers should be able to clean out their wheat bins this year.
The Canadian Wheat Board says based on the current market outlook and the size and quality of this year’s crop, it should have no trouble selling everything farmers want to deliver.
“At this point in time we’re fairly optimistic that we’ll be able to move what farmers want to make available to us,” said information officer Deborah Harri.
The board’s export program is already off to a roaring start, with wheat sales in the first seven weeks of the crop year up 58 percent from the same period last year. Exports to Sept. 18 totalled 3.3 million tonnes, compared with 2.1 million tonnes a year earlier. One reason the board expects to sell out is that its shelves aren’t as well-stocked this year.
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Spring wheat down
Farmers grew an estimated 17.8 million tonnes of spring wheat, down about eight million tonnes from last year and well below the previous five-year average of 24.3 million tonnes.
At the same time, carryover stocks coming into the new crop year were also down. Farm stocks and commercial supplies on July 31 were pegged at 9.5 million tonnes, down from 10.3 million a year earlier.
Meanwhile, world demand is forecast by the International Wheat Council to be 2.5 million tonnes higher in 1994-95, at 95.8 million tonnes.
The other positive factor in the board’s sales outlook is crop quality. While there are pockets of the prairies where the wheat is being downgraded, and fusarium continues to plague large areas of Manitoba, overall the wheat crop is in good shape.
The board is projecting about 75 percent of the spring wheat will fall into the top two grades of CWRS. That’s above the 20-year average of 68 percent and provides relief for the board’s sales staff, which in the previous two years, found itself stuck with large volumes of 3 CW and CW Feed.
“It will certainly be an easier crop to market,” said Harri. “There won’t be that much feed wheat this year.”
One slightly disappointing feature of the wheat crop is its lower-than-expected protein levels.
Protein below average
Brian Storry of the Canadian Grain Commission said milling wheat is averaging around 12.8 percent protein. That’s better than the last two years (12.4 percent in 1993 and 12.6 percent in 1992) but well below the previous 10-year average of 13.8 percent.
He said wet weather last year leached nitrogen from the soil, which limited the protein content of this year’s crop, despite growing conditions that would generally be favorable for protein.
The board is also telling farmers it expects to be able to sell all the fusarium-damaged wheat they deliver.
