The Wide World of Wheat from the Washington Wheat Commission

Anchor: And now from the Washington Wheat Commission comes "The wide world of wheat" grain industry headlines from around the world. Iraq is in the market for 1 million metric tons of wheat—Australian wheat, that is. Three years after a kickback scandal blew up in the Australian Wheat Board's face, Iraq has signaled it wants to start taking wheat from Down Under again. Apparently, the $300 million in bribes the AWB paid Saddam Hussein to take Australian wheat during the Oil for Food Program, are forgiven. The Pakistani harvest has kicked off with government officials hoping they'll be able to achieve a production target of 25 million metric tons. Pakistan grew its wheat acreage by 2 percent to 21 million acres by instituting a guaranteed minimum price for farmers of about $8.18 per bushel. In Japan, the milling arm of Toyota Motors plans to import wheat into the country from Kazakhstan. The effort marks the first time Japan has attempted to diversify its supply sources toward the Black Sea. The world's largest grain importer, Japan buys 90 percent of its wheat overseas, with almost all supplies coming from the U.S. Canada and Australia. Until now. I'm Bob Hoff. Anchor: The Washington Wheat Commission wants growers and citizens alike to understand their industry has global reach. A pebble thrown anywhere in the world of grain is felt as ripples by Washington's 13,000 growers and their landlords.