Western Canadian farmers are reaping the benefit of the Chinese economic juggernaut with sales of 1.8 million tonnes of wheat and over 350 000 tonnes of barley in 2003-04, the CWB's President and CEO announced today. This was the largest CWB sales program to China in almost a decade, Adrian Measner told reporters gathered for the CWB's annual end-of-crop-year news conference. The crop year runs from August 1 to July 31.

High volume sales to China are projected to continue in the years ahead as wheat consumption in the country climbs and the area seeded to wheat decreases. China is expected to import between five and ten million tonnes of wheat annually over the next decade.

"China is also becoming a very quality conscious buyer," Measner said, noting that over 50 per cent of the wheat China bought in 2003-04 was high-grade spring wheat, compared to just 20 per cent eight years ago. "Given the quality and consistency of western Canadian wheat, we are faced with some exciting opportunities to expand our market share in China in the coming years."

The Canadian domestic market remains the biggest overall buyer of western Canadian wheat and barley with Japan, the Philippines and Mexico rounding out the top five. Italy was the largest buyer of western Canadian durum wheat, used in pasta and couscous, followed by Morocco, Algeria, Venezuela and the domestic market. The CWB's biggest customers for malting barley, used to make beer, were the domestic malt industry, which processes malting barley into malt for use here in Canada and for export around the world, and the United States, China, Colombia and South Africa, while Saudi Arabia and Japan were the largest foreign buyers of feed barley.

Western Canadian farmers are starting to recover after three consecutive years of drought, Measner said, with production of wheat, durum and barley expected to reach almost 38 million tonnes, the highest level in five years. The CWB is projecting an export program of between 17.5 and 18.5 million tonnes in 2004-05.

Ken Ritter, chair of the CWB's farmer-controlled board of directors, used the end-of-crop-year news conference to reiterate opposition to Canada's signature of the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework agreement on agriculture. The agreement commits western Canadian farmers to giving up government guarantees and, for the first time, makes the CWB's single desk the subject of future negotiations.

"Our major competitors do not have the right to dictate what type of grain marketing system we should have," Ritter said. "Farmers expect the Government of Canada to do everything in its power to ensure their rights are not bargained away or traded off in the ongoing WTO negotiations."

Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. As one of Canada's biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-based organization sells grain to more than 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, less marketing costs, to Prairie farmers.