Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
next year. During the past 5 years, this imbalance
was almost 10 million tonnes per year (Table
19.1). Though only a small percentage in any
given year, the cumulative effect has greatly
diminished world stocks. This highlights the
need to understand both how wheat is described
and how it is delivered from the producer to the
miller.
Wheat production for all US classes of wheat
(Table 19.2) averaged about 57.0 million tonnes
from 2002 to 2007. This represents only 9.5% of
the world's total production but cannot be com-
pletely consumed nationally; therefore, almost
one-half of US wheat production is available for
trade. This excess often represents nearly one-
third of the world's traded wheat crop. Four other
major wheat producing regions and countries
contribute to global wheat trade annually: Argen-
tina, Australia, Canada, and the EU. Other nations
have moved in and out of the market, but none
can match the consistent reliable supplies pro-
vided by the fi ve major exporters.
The signifi cance of the US wheat crop is mag-
nifi ed because the effi cient transportation infra-
structure across North America easily moves
wheat from fi eld to port. The US system of trade
allows buyers from anywhere in the world to
compete for wheat on a level playing fi eld. These
two factors—open market-price discovery and
consistent supply—combine to make the US the
foremost provider of market information for the
world's wheat buyers and sellers.
GLOBAL WHEAT TRADE
International wheat trade is quantifi ed annually
and typically is about 100 million tones (World
Agricultural Outlook Board 2008). Thus less than
20% of the wheat grown each year is traded or
sold outside the country where it was produced.
Recently, more wheat exporting countries have
started to obtain a share of the increasingly com-
petitive global wheat market (Fig. 19.1). United
Percentage of World Wheat Exports
100%
90%
80%
70%
Total ROW
EU-25
Argentina
Australia
Canada
United States
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Fig. 19.1
The relative amount of wheat exported by the US and Canada has decreased as the rest of the world (ROW) has
increased its share of the total market.
