The Price of Wheat
When the International Wheat Conference began its meeting in London rather more than a month ago, it was forecast in this journal that its main difficulty would be to achieve the aim of this country of pushing world prices down and that the chances of success for the Conference were small. This prophecy suddenly came true on Wed- nesday, when the British representative announced that, although the Government regard the agreement which the Conference had pro- duced as acceptable in every other way it could not accept the prices proposed. So the meeting came to a full stop. There can be no doubt whatever that this decision was both right and shrewd. Even the procedure of dropping it like a bombshell on the Conference had something to commend it. The recent price of wheat in Chicago, at well over three dollars a bushel for immediate delivery and about $2.16 for September delivery is beyond all reason. There is no reason to believe that the American 1947 crop will be a bad one, and the most blatant exploitation of the world's needs cannot justify such figures, let alone business sense. Britain as a heavy importer runs a certain risk, in that she forgoes the long-term assurance of supplies which the agreement would give. It is also a pity that the more general social benefits of the agreement have to be rejected, though there is a good chance that they may be secured later. But immediate supplies are assured and it would be the very negation of enterprise if the prices proposed for the next few years were accepted. The time of acute need is precisely the time for taking risks. The Minister of Food is setting an example to the whole Government in budgeting for a fall in world wheat prices. If present prices really are a balloon" he will deserve every credit for having pricked it, and the bang may re-echo in some of the other inflated markets of the world.
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