Mills face wheat shortage?

Press, 4 February 1987, Page 2

Mills face wheat shortage?

By

HUGH STRINGLEMAN,

farm editor

The chairman of the Wheat Board, Sir James Stewart, has called the recent seizing of a cargo of imported wheat by the Customs Department at Auckland very unfortunate and has suggested that Auckland and Mount Maunganui mills may yet run short of wheat in the next few weeks. The seizing of 5335 tonnes of Australian hard wheat, imported during the last days of control over marketing by the board, would do nothing to enhance the relationship between growers and millers which needed to be one of mutual confidence, Sir James said.

Without prior advice, the Customs Department blocked the last importation by the board. The Minister of Customs, Mrs Shields, has said that the wheat is not required. Sir James regretted that the board was not consulted, as it might have been able to persuade the Minister that it was required, and that it was in the longer-term interests of growers that Australian hard wheat be available for blending during the first crucial period of deregulation (from February 1). As far as the board was aware, no North Island millers had yet received firm offers of 1987 harvest wheat from the South Island, for delivery by a specific date, and so the

seizing of the Australian shipment was putting them at risk. The president of the New Zealand Flour Millers* Association, Mr Roger Keenan, said yesterday that the stock position in the four Auckland and Mount Maunganui mills was very tight The shipment from Australia, now being held at these mills pending discussions with Mrs Shields on its disposal, was largely designed so that mills could use the tail end of last year’s lowerquality domestic harvest Mr Keenan said. The millers would probably not have taken this lower-quality wheat if they had known they would be prevented from blending it with the Australian hard ship-

ment He said the seizing was an interference in an industry which was on the brink of deregulation after 50 years of harsh controls. Along with Sir James, Mr Keenan said he hoped the matter could be resolved quickly. The regulations used by Mrs Shields to seize the wheat have nothing to do with any countervailing duty legislation designed to prevent subsidised imports hurting local producers. She took advantage of the Customs Import Prohibition (Wheat) Order of June, 1986, which was a temporary order until February 1, 1987, replacing a prohibition order which had been in force since the 19305. The Wheat Board has said that although it did

not vary its procedure with the latest shipment, the Customs Department used that temporary order to make the last-minute seizing. It appears the prohibition order had always been regarded as a final check on the power of the Wheat Board, but it had never been used. Its use three days before it expired by a Government which has been determined to force deregulation on wheatgrowers has many within the industry scratching their heads. In the next few days millers, bakers, and the Wheat Board will argue to Mrs Shields that the imported wheat should be released. If she agrees it will be a final ironic twist to 50 years of wheat and flour controls.