Word: russian
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...sharp-trading stereotypes of the Philadelphia lawyer, the Greek shipowner and the Swiss banker must now be added a new model of shrewdness: the Russian grain buyer. In the celebrated "Great Grain Robbery" of 1972, Soviet agricultural agents bought up whole shiploads of U.S. wheat, managing not only to secure it at bargain prices but also to get the U.S. Government to foot part of the bill through a farm subsidy program. Now, much to Washington's embarrassment, the Russians have struck-and stung-again...
...grain deal of 1972, the Russians bought large quantities of U.S. wheat and corn at a time when American farmers were already fairly scraping their silos to meet heavy domestic and foreign demand. Prices of some grains more than doubled as a result, giving a sharp upward kick to inflation. Even more annoying was the fact that, because U.S. officials were not aware of the big Soviet purchases, the grain was sold under a Government subsidy program, which meant that U.S. taxpayers paid for much of the Russian grain bought in the U.S. To avoid a replay of that fiasco...
Actually, there were ample signs this summer of trouble in the Soviet harvest. In Chicago, grain traders heard reports of big Russian purchases eight weeks ago. And in mid-July the Russians were chartering grain-carrying ships. This was done secretly, through Soviet front companies in Paris; bills of lading were rewritten at sea from "Destination Rotterdam" to "Transshipment Rotterdam, Destination U.S.S.R." Not only was the Russian demand for ships an omen that the U.S.S.R. planned to buy more gram than would be necessary with a good harvest, but it lifted world freight rates by 15%,which should also have...
Grain belt farmers are pleased with the Russian purchases. Record harvests this year have already depressed prices to the lowest levels since 1972. The Soviet buys should eat into the surpluses and help lift farm incomes...
...should have little, if any, impact, however, on prices at the supermarket. With grain prices so depressed, it would take a huge jump in the farm cost of wheat, for example, to add even 20 or 30 to the price of a loaf of bread. Stung most by the Russians' ploy will be the big grain speculators, who were selling grain futures contracts short this spring and summer in the expectation that prices would fall even lower. The Soviet shortfall changed all that and taught the speculators-as well as Washington officials-a little more about the cagey Russian...