§ Mr. Martenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the estimated current world surpluses of common wheat, durum wheat, husked rice, barley, maize, white suger, butter and 221W skimmed milk powder, together with the estimated average price level at which regular trade takes place on the world market.
§ Mr. BishopNo estimates are available of world surpluses for the commodities requested. The latest published estimates of stocks are set out below along with similar data for recent years. These stocks
END-YEAR WORLD STOCK LEVELS End 1975 or 1975–76 End 1976 or 1976–77 Million tonnes End 1977 or 1977–78 (forecast) Common wheat* … … 60 98 85 Durum wheat … … Milled rice* … … 18 16 16 Barley … … n.a. n.a. n.a. Maize … … n.a. n.a. n.a. Feed grains* † … … 52 71 80 Total sugar (white equivalent) … … 17 21 23–27 Butter … … 0.589 0.713 0.884 Cheese … … 1.899 2.058 1.996 SourceVarious USDA Foreign Agricultural Circulars.
* Stocks data are based on aggregates of different local marketing years and should not be construed as representing world stock levels at a fixed point in time. Stocks data are not available for all countries and these countries exclude the People's Republic of China and parts of Eastern Europe. They have also been adjusted for estimated year to year changes in the USSR grain stocks but do not purport to include the entire absolute level of USSR stocks.
† Feed grains include maize, barley, oats, millets and sorghum.
EXPORT PRICE QUOTES FOR WIDELY TRADED QUALITIES OF GRAINS AND SUGAR $per tonne Wheat: No. 2 Dark Western Springs (14 per cent.) … FOB Great Lakes … … 108 No. 2 Hard Red Winter (ordinary) … FOB US Gulf ports … … 107 No. 2 Soft Red Winter (ordinary) … FOB US Gulf ports … … 97 No. 3 Hard Amber Durum … FOB Great Lakes … … 123 Maize: US No. yellow … FOB US Gulf ports … … 83 Rice: White* 5 per cent. … FOB Thailand. … … 275 White sugar … FOB European ports … … 189 * September and the first week of October.