Winnipeg (Resource News International) — Exporters indicate that at least two cargoes of Canadian wheat have been sold to Brazilian millers as the farmers’ strike in Argentina left end-users looking to find alternative suppliers.
“There is still some speculation that the Canadian wheat
could have been either from Ontario or from Western Canada,” an
export source said, not wanting his name used.
“The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) can neither confirm nor deny
reports that Brazil has purchased wheat from Western Canada,”
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Statistics from the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) show
that as of the end of January 2008 in the 2008-09 crop
year, 161,000 tonnes of Canadian wheat have been sold to
Brazil. During the 2007-08 (August to July) crop year, Canada sold a
total of 180,400 tonnes of wheat to Brazil, the CGC figures
revealed.
Brazil has in the past purchased wheat from the CWB with shipment from the northern Manitoba port of Churchill,
the export source said. However, the time frame laid out in the
latest purchase would indicate the Canadian wheat will likely be
shipped from Canada’s East Coast export facilities.
Argentina would normally supply Brazil with about 90 per cent of its
wheat requirements. However, the strike by Argentina’s farmers, which ended April 2 after three weeks, halted wheat shipments to Brazil.
Brazilian millers have purchased about 250,000 tonnes of
wheat from the U.S. and Canada so far. It was expected they could take as much as
one million if the strike continued for any length of time.
