06/19/06 New top export market for U.S. wheat

Farm and Ranch June 19, 2006 The leader board of top U.S. wheat export markets keeps changing. For the recently completed 2005/2006 marketing year, U.S. Wheat Associates says Nigeria, a hard red winter wheat buyer, was the number one export market, importing just over three million metric tons, a 20 percent increase over the previous year. Slipping to number two was Japan at just under three million metric tons, followed by Mexico, Iraq, the Philippines, Egypt, Korea and Venezuela, all million ton plus markets. Total U.S. wheat exports were down five percent this past marketing year, and John Oades of U.S. Wheat's Portland office, says so were soft white shipments. Oades: "Not dramatically down but we did see our usually big buyers in Asia, that being Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines continue to be strong buyers. The slippage came a bit from the Middle East, particularly Egypt. We see their purchases down a little bit in deference to cheaper Black Sea wheats, wheats coming out of Russia and Ukraine." Oades says for this new marketing year there should be a little less competition from Black Sea wheat in the Egyptian market. Missing from the list of major importers in 05/06 was China, which had been a major importer the previous marketing year. And Oades says right now USDA pegs China to have about the same sized crop this year as it did in 2005. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.