Can Wheat Producers Keep Pace With Expanding Global Demand?
Arlington, VA U.S. wheat export demand is steady for the second straight month in a growing world market according to the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for March 2010. Producers around the world have responded to growing demand by producing record crops recently. As a result, USDA forecasts that global ending stocks for 2009/10 (June-May) will be 196.8 million metric tons (MMT) up 60 percent from a recent low of 123.3 MMT in 2007/08. Significantly, though, the March WASDE report calls for world wheat demand to grow again this year. Falling wheat prices since the supply induced shock of 2007/08 are partly responsible, but global demand is growing with population and income in developing countries. Since 1980, in fact, wheat demand in developing countries has grown from 50 MMT to 125 MMT. U.S. Wheat Associates Vice President of Overseas Operations Vince Peterson recently told reporters that at some point only
