Wheat growers watch Egyptian protests

Revolutionary protests in Egypt have Northwest wheat growers tuned in to North Africa.

“We’re definitely keeping an eye over there,” said Tom Mick, CEO of the Washington Grain Alliance. “We have no game plan in place because we don’t know what’s going to happen, but whatever happens is going to have an impact on us.”

Egypt is by far the world’s leading importer of wheat. Mick said the U.S. is expected to export at least 9.8 to 10 million metric tons of wheat - including one million metric tons of soft white wheat - to Egypt this year.

“And we were anticipating it would be much higher by the end of the year,” he said. “Now, who knows?”

Millions of Egyptians gathered in cities throughout the nation over the past week in an attempt to oust President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in charge since 1981.

With 20 percent of the U.S. wheat exports bound for Egypt - and similarly troubled Yemen - speculation on wheat has fluctuated as images of Egyptians with their shoes in the air in protest leave the country’s future leadership in question.

Citizens of Tunisia toppled their president last week amid rising food prices.

Trudi Allenbach, marketer with PNW Farmers Cooperative in Colfax, said Tuesday that, while cash prices for wheat are steady, the shaky political situation is making for a shaky futures market.

“It sounds like it wouldn’t take much news to make things more unsettled,” she said. “But whoever’s in charge has got to feed their people.”

While the futures market dropped Friday, it swung up Monday and Tuesday.

Allenbach said other nations in the Middle East are locking in contracts on wheat to hoard it at assured prices.

Egypt became a big buyer of U.S. soft white wheat again last year after Russian authorities put an export embargo on wheat in the wake of a massive drought.

Mick said the market is important because of its volume. Egyptians consume 400 pounds of wheat per capita, compared to the 135 pounds in U.S. diets.

And, with weather tightening supplies by hurting crops in Canada, Argentina, Australia and the Black Sea region, U.S. wheat is one of the few remaining suppliers of wheat this year.

“I think what I’m learning more and more is that even in this isolated area of the Pacific Northwest, we’re pretty dependent on what happens all around the world,” said Mick.