Word: wheats
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Prodded by drought that has dashed hopes for a bumper Soviet wheat crop, Russian buyers last week returned, as expected, to the U.S. market. They signed contracts to buy 117 million bu., or 3.2 million metric tons, of winter wheat from Cook Industries of Memphis and Cargill Inc. of Minneapolis; at present prices, the deal amounts to about $470 million. That is hardly enough to push American prices up very much, but a big question remains: How much more does the U.S.S.R. plan...
...size of the first sale is hardly reminiscent of 1972, when skillful Soviet buyers, working in deep secrecy, managed to acquire 19 million tons of grain at a bargain price that was officially subsidized by the U.S. Government. Largely as a result, wheat prices shot from less than $2 to more than $6 per bu., and in the following months other domestic food prices soared. Memories of that disaster caused 33 members of Congress last week to sign a letter calling on the U.S. Government to take over negotiation of all grain sales to the U.S.S.R. But the Soviets have...
...wheat crop this year is forecast at a record 2.2 billion bu., leaving ample supplies for export sales without serious impact on home prices. Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz predicts that sales of grain to the Soviet Union will have only a minimum effect on American prices even if they reach 10 million tons, which he believes they will. One possible effect: meat prices will be kept from falling, because a general tightening of grain markets will hold feed costs high...
...commodities markets traders were disappointed by the size of the Cook and Cargill deals. Wheat, corn, soybean and oat futures fell. The question mark, says Crop Analyst Conrad Leslie, "is at what price level the Russians will make further commitments." Meaning: the shrewd Soviet buyers may be waiting for prices to come down a bit further before placing further orders...
...Soviet shenanigans helped to fuel much pre-launch grumbling in and around Wasinngton about whether the Apollo-Soyuz trip was really necessary at all. Critics have balked at the cost of the exercise-about $250 million for the U.S. alone. Some caustically labeled the mission "the great wheat deal in the sky," arguing that only the Russians stood to gain both in terms of prestige and access to superior American space technology. Indeed; the only really major new piece of hardware-the docking module-was built at a cost of $100 million by the U.S., though the Russians collaborated...