Newsroom
2003
CWB sends price signal to farmers as hard white wheat production expected to reach commercial levels
February 20, 2003
Winnipeg - The CWB today announced the addition of Canada Western Experimental Hard White (CWHW) wheat to its monthly Pool Return Outlook for 2003-04. Based on the amount of pedigreed seed available, the CWB is projecting a CWHW crop of 200 000 tonnes in 2003-04.
“Adding this hard white spring wheat class to our monthly PRO sends farmers a valuable price signal,” said Bill Spafford, Vice-President, Sales and Market Development.
“Most hard white wheat is produced in Australia,” Spafford said. “We have been very successful in branding Canadian wheat as the best in the world, and we are confident in our ability to win market share with this exciting new product.”
Target markets for CWHW are mostly in Asia, including Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore, where white wheat is especially valued for noodle production. CWHW is a high quality, versatile wheat, however, and it will also be marketed for various types of bread and other products, such as common wheat pasta, cookies and crackers. There has also been interest in CWHW from customers in other markets, including the United Kingdom and the United States.
There are currently two registered varieties of CWHW, Snowbird and Kanata, with commercial quantities of Snowbird available in 2003-04. Commercial quantities of Kanata should be available in 2004-05.
“CWHW has the superior milling and baking qualities of Canada Western Red Spring wheat, but with its white kernel, millers can produce a flour with brighter colour at the same level of extraction. This is a valuable trait,” Spafford noted.
Including the class and grade of CWHW in the 2003-04 PRO also enables farmers growing it to use the Producer Payment Options already available on other classes of wheat. The first PRO for the 2003-04 year will be released on Monday, February 24, at noon, at the 12th annual GrainWorld conference.
Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. As one of Canada’s biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-based organization sells grain to more than 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, less marketing costs, to Prairie farmers.
For more information, please contact:
Rhéal Cenerini
Communications consultant
Winnipeg, MB
tel: (204) 983-4497