09/26/05 Club wheat production down; price up

09/26/05 Club wheat production down; price up

Farm and Ranch September 26, 2005 The price premium for club wheat over common soft white, which was nearly non-existent for the past several years began moving up in early September. The club premium currently being quoted by USDA Market News in Portland is about 25 cents a bushel. Glen Squires, vice president of the Washington Wheat Commission, says the reason is basic supply and demand. Squires says farmers had been reducing club wheat acreage due to the lack of a premium. The Wheat Commission estimates only about 166-thousand acres of club wheat were harvested this year in the Pacific Northwest, down from 231-thousand in 2004. Squires: "The last time premiums rose was almost up to 90-cents on average was back in 1999. At that point acreage dropped below 200-thousand acres as well. And so already we've started to see the premium rise." Most club is from winter varieties and Squires says producers may already be responding to the higher premium with plantings this fall.. Squires: "There has been an indication that there has been a response. It seems there is more seed that went out for club so the acreage may go back up. The big question is how customers will respond to higher premiums." In 1999, the Phillippines, the number two market for western white wheat, a blend of common and club, went to straight soft white due to the high premium. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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