Durum Class Action

[Zaphod]

I wonder how long it will take before things get so bad that farmers will launch a class action suit against the CWB. Durum prices in the US and Europe are dropping and the next PROs will be forced lower too. Right now, the 09/10 PRO is $89 lower than the 08/09 PRO and it's going to get a lot worse yet. I realize markets go up and down, but in this case, farmers are FORCED to carry over about a quarter of their durum into a lower priced market. Most people could see the market softening and would have done what they do with any other crop - reduce inventory. But when it comes to durum, they can't. Ag Cda is projecting a carryout of 1.85 million tonnes. Take out the commercial inventory and multiply what's left by $89 per tonne and you get a class action worth $62 million. Any takers? Any lawyers out there listening?

[parsley]

Need to have the class action done so that the settlement doesn't come out of the pooling accounts.

Mischief?

[Zaphod]

Hmm. Salaries perhaps? Or maybe in lieu of a settlement, just issue free export licenses.

The nice thing is that this could be done without all the politics and without needing a 51% majority. The 49% who want out could do so.

[parsley]

No money. Just licenses. Brilliant.

[Hopperbin]

We can give the CWB lawyer a free export outa the country.

[Hopperbin]

http://www.wbga.org/03-14-05-2.pdf

[Fransisco]

How bad will things have to get? That is the question now isn't it. Here are some facts from this weeks Agriweek.

The 2008 non-durum wheat harvest was 23.09 million tonnes, a huge 41%increase over 2007, but total exports were up only 20% to 14.11 million. Non-durum exports by the Canadian Wheat Board were 13.20 million tonnes, up just 1.9 million from 2007-08.

Eastern wheat exports amounted to 910,000 tonnes, up sharply from about 425,000 in the previous season.

The Wheat Board’s exports were 49% of the total Canadian non-durum wheat supply. Non-durum wheat carryover at the end of 2008-09 is expected to 4.6 million tonnes compared to 3.72 million at the end of 2007-08, a 31% increase (which the Board considered “slight” in a year-end summary).

Durum wheat exports rose to 3.58 million tonnes from 3.21 million in 2007-08, representing 56% of crop-year supply of a record 6.35 million tonnes, compared to 65% in the prior year. Durum carryover is expected to more than double from 850,000
tonnes to around 1.8 million.

Feed barley exports more or less ceased in 2008-09, with just 185,000 tonnes shipped by the Wheat Board, compared to 1.6 million tonnes in the prior crop year. However malting barley exports rose to 1.5 million tonnes from 1.3 million.

Domestic milling of non-durum wheat increased from 2007-08 but was lower than in the four preceding crop years. Domestic use of durum wheat, despite the record supply, fell to a five year low of 413,000 tonnes, down 44% from the previous year and 32% from 2006-07. Domestic disappearance of barley was also a five-year low.

Even though the Board sells at firesale prices it still can't sell everything we produce.

[redbaron]

Maybe the board could take some lessons from the private trade on how they handled a record canola crop this past year.

[Choice2U]

Record canola crop....prices were basically $9 - $10/bu (another record) for most of the year....the carryover is small....I"M WAITING FOR BURBERT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE ROTTEN, PRIVATE, COMMERCIAL INDUSTRY THAT RUNS ROUGHSHOD OVER US POOR PEASANT FARMERS. Now...why do we need to orderly market malt barley and wheat again???? Oh right...so the peasant farmer doesn't get screwed.

[Fransisco]

"Maybe the board could take some lessons from the private trade on how they handled a record canola crop this past year."

And from the eastern trade which pretty much doubled the amount of wheat they exported over the previous year while at the same time getting their farmers higher take home prices than the Board.