Broad View Of Wheat Agreement

Chronicle (Levin), 10 March 1948, Page 7

Broad View Of Wheat Agreement

Rerieived Tueaday, 10.30 p.ni, ■ ( , BYDNll, .Mar. 9. j With the announcenicnt conceriuug | the proppsed international wheat agree- S inent oniy a few days old, Australiau ( opinion appears to liave taken the broad | view tliat despite the apparent initial | loss to growers the agreement shoulu | prove 'an important stabilising force in { .world trade. As oue ,of the three ex- » porting countries, Australia has. been 1 asked to provide 85,000,000. bushels oi I wheat annually to 33 importing eouu | tries over a period of five years at a ; inaximum price of 12s pd a bushel aii i J a minimuin price of 9s 4id', falling year | ly to 6s 10id*a bushel. The exporting | countries may sell their excess produc S tion on world iharkets at any price. | At present ihe export price is 20s 6d a j bushel. | . A great outcrv was cxpected from | grcwers, but with the exception of criticism by the treasurer of the Fartn | ers and >Settlers' Association (Mr. H. K.. S Nock) this has not eventUated. fcfuch | criticism is deemed by many authoritie. | to be both shortsighted and partisan. g The wheat price today equals the all I time record in Chicago of 1917, but j growers remember that the all-time i Australiau low of 2s Id a bushel was | reached as recentlv as August, 1939. | Informed opinion is that the benelit of | a stable price for iive yeara in a | uotoriously unstable wheat market will f more than outweight the loss of some I portion of the immediate prolits. | The proposed agreement avoids the 1 pitfalls of being accused of restricting 1 world food production. «It also leaves I wheatgrowing countries with freedoin J of action in most mattors wliile ofl'ering I them guaranteed pfices for a subslan | tial portion of every market. Its maia | weakness is tliat Russia and Argeutina 2 have refused to sign. . | In tlie anlyasis of the Australiau I position, Mr. W. J. Jackson, in the | fdydney Tclegraph, points out that I though average yichls over deeade I periods have imiiroved the vields ot | individual years have been erratic. I The post-war demands of ■ starving | Europe and Asia have caused the price i to rise so sharply that even the ap- 1 peararice of record yields has not at- 1 fected it. Between 1921 and 1940 the j average exportable surplus in Australia j was exactly 85,000,000 bushels, but the ! average price per bushel was onlv -±s I 6d. | "Though ratifieation of the agrre- I ment will materially niodify the over- | generous terms extracted from -tJie i sorely prcssed British Govcrnnient tor 1 this year's crop thc grower will still 1)0 | left with a highly prolitable return I aniounting to at least 50 per cent. | above Jhe declared cost of production ! whiclr is 6s1 a bushel," savs the Bydney I Morning Herald. On this basiS, 'more- I over, the grower will be protected tor | the next flve years against unremuner- | ative prices at least to the extcnt " br 1 about the half normal harvest, fsucn n a '''stabilising measure was vitally | needed. " ... * S