May 7, 2007

 

Australian government to decide future of wheat exports

 

 

The future of Australian wheat exports would now be decided by the Australian government, Derek Clauson, president of the grains section of Western Australian Farmers Federation, said Monday.

 

The decision follows an agreement at a meeting in Melbourne Friday by representatives of most state-based grower lobbies

 

Clauson said those attending agreed the international unit of AWB Ltd which manages the current export monopoly, should demerge from its parent and become a fully grower-owned, not-for-profit, single-seller, single-desk marketer of export wheat.

 

AWB would be a noncommercial enterprise working on behalf of growers to market their export wheat crop, he said.

 

The new company would control wheat exports from Australia, which can be valued at nearly AUS$5 billion a year, and would not wield veto power over exports, as AWB formerly enjoyed, he said.

 

Only South Australia's wheat lobby abstained from the meeting as it wants wheat exports to be deregulated in a staged transition over three years.

 

The government is reviewing the wheat export system in the wake of an inquiry into kickbacks paid by AWB in Iraq through the UN's oil-for-food programme.

 

Callus said the agreement was communicated to Prime Minister John Howard, along with a six-point plan as to how it should be implemented.

 

The government is now the only party growers are looking to for participation and approval, he said.

 

The new organization would have no commercial ties at all with AWB, with a new name to stamp its independence and differentiate it from its predecessor, he said.

 

Peter McBride, a spokesman for AWB, said the company is happy to work with grain groups to get an agreed model once the government has made a decision on the future export arrangements.