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North Idaho |
Here's another interesting article recieved via e-mail............
By Missy Ryan
WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. wheat industry is
hoping to smother a proposal by the baking sector to curtail
exports in a bid to ease surging wheat and flour prices, a move
some see as a dangerous turn toward the past.
The American Bakers Association will lobby the Bush
administration and members of Congress next week to help ease
"critically low reserves" of wheat, suggesting the Agriculture
Department should stockpile wheat and free conservation land.
"This is raising such serious domestic food security issues
that ABA is requesting that USDA curtail wheat exports until
bakers and other domestic users are guaranteed the supplies
they need," the ABA said in a recent statement.
The proposal comes as the world struggles to adjust to
spiraling commodity prices, driven by poor harvests, tight
stocks, rising incomes and growing biofuel production.
Cereal prices, for instance, jumped 41 percent from
December 2006 to December 2007, according to an index from the
United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. And many
believe that high prices are here to stay.
More and more countries, like China and India, have seized
on export bans, taxes or other limits in an effort to ease
rising food prices that are fueling unrest among the poor.
In the United States, wheat growers, millers and exporters
are lining up against any such moves, arguing that history has
proven they are ineffective -- pointing to a 1980 embargo that
actually preceded a decline in grain production area.
The wheat industry argues that farmers will ease high
prices by increasing production. "Markets adjust themselves,"
said Rebecca Bratter, a trade analyst at U.S. Wheat Associates,
which promotes exports.
Such a move is also seen as a dangerous precedent that
could put off customers abroad and threaten overall farm
exports that are predicted to top $100 billion this year.
"We criticize China, we criticize Argentina, then we do
it?" Bratter asked.
It certainly doesn't hurt that the prices are a windfall
for wheat producers.
Gary Blumenthal, an analyst at World Perspectives
consultancy, called the idea a "policy faux pas" that in the
past had helped spur soybean production in South America, now a
leading competitor to U.S. farmers.
While it is unclear whether the idea would get any support
in Congress, more and more lawmakers are voicing concern over
the mounting cost of food.
As of late February, overall U.S. food prices were
predicted to increase 3 percent to 4 percent in 2008, in the
same ballpark as past years.
But cereals and bakery products appeared set up for an
unusually large increase of up to 6.5 percent.
(Editing by Jim Marshall)
((Reuters Messaging: [email protected]; +
202-898-8376))
Keywords: USA TRADE/WEHAT EXPORTS
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"curtail wheat exports" ??
