Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
July 30, 2010

The crop year will end tomorrow showing decade-high wheat exports and total grain exports.

CWB president and CEO Ian White said the 2009-10 crop year was notable for strong sales in an extremely competitive world market.

"We undertook a very strategic sales program that enabled us to increase our exports in an aggressively competitive international market that was saturated with grain," White said today at the CWB's annual crop year-end news conference.

The CWB exported about 18.8 million tonnes (MT) of wheat, durum and barley during the crop year, the highest volume since 1999-2000. That's up 400 000 tonnes from the previous year, and about 2.2 MT over the 10-year average. Wheat exports of 13.6 MT were also the highest in a decade. Durum exports reached 3.8 MT – the highest in three years, and a significant number given deep worldwide supplies.

CWB net revenue, returned directly to farmers, is estimated at about $4.8 billion – the third highest total in the past decade.

However, the production outlook for 2010-11 is considerably dampened by excess rains that have left 10.5 million acres unseeded, and ruined the prospects for another 2.5 million acres that did get in the ground. All-wheat production is projected at 18.45 MT, about the same as in 2007 and the lowest since 2002.

Allen Oberg, chair of the CWB's farmer-controlled board of directors, noted that unseeded acres and low production have created a dire situation for many Prairie farmers.

"Farmers are resilient, but when you cannot even get seed into the ground, it's devastating," said Oberg, who farms at Forestburg, AB.

Wheat production in Western Canada is forecast at 15.6 MT for 2010-11, down from 18.8 MT last year. Durum is expected to be 2.9 MT, down from last year's 5.5 MT. Total barley production is forecast at 7.4 MT, a reduction of 1.5 MT from 2008-09.

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

Website: http://www.cwb.ca

Published: July 30, 2010