|
| No. It is a long story. In a nutshell, was told this by a fellow in USDA after he retired..he and wife would come out to our place every year. Keep in mind I don't remember the exact details. It started with Kissinger. The Nixon Admin. needed some tool to bring the Russians to use their influence to get N. Vietnam into the Paris peace talks. The result...offer the Soviets some grain with cheap financing, & financing for the communists was a touchy issue back then,,,prices were not an issue as we were loaded with CCC corn stocks. As I understand the story, Butz was sent with a mission to offer this package..the russians turned him down flat...didn't need any grain. He came back empty handed....in the meantime the Sukhovi Winds were drying up every crop in the New Lands of the Soviet Union...but as communications were then, except for our satellites...and the fact the commies were never too willing to pass on bad news to their superiors (also be aware, since their revolution they always had a optimistic 5-year ag plan and never once, not on single time, did they meet their quotas) ...suddenly the Soviets out of the clear blue asked for visa's for a buying mission. A plane load of them arrived and a lot of media attention as they loaded up on blue jeans..& etc....but behind the scenes they casually went to the major exporters and completed transactions in secret...there was no reporting system. At that time I was affiliated with a major exporter & we had done a lot of business with the Soviets...usually a hand shake deal with details worked out later...however the Soviets pulled off the largest grain transaction in history and none of the major exporters were any wiser...in those days, the grain business was highly secretive and you never talked about business or you would be blacklisted (bad choice of words) among the trade. Mum was always the word. In fact, a lot of this grain was not hedged...and when the market (markets always seem to know, somehow) began to advance, along with some weather problems....it seems like every exporter in the business notice each beginning to buy futures ...then the race was on....because of this, the export reporting system was put into place. | |
|
Great Grain Robbery 1972
