Fifteenth Session

The fifteenth session of the International Wheat Council met in London from June 16 to 21, 1954, and discussed the current wheat situation and its effects on the operation of the International Wheat Agreement. Prior to the opening of the session, press reports had indicated that the importing countries would raise the problem of recent price reductions by some major exporters and that the exporters would raise the problem of the declining purchases under the agreement. On the operation of the agreement in the current world wheat situation, the Council stated that the lower volume of international transactions during the 1953–1954 crop year reflected the general reduction in demand resulting from higher production in importing countries and reduction of reserve stocks in importing countries. Since prices within and outside the agreement had moved within the range of the agreed maximum ($2.05) and minimum ($1.55) prices, neither exporting nor importing countries had been obliged to transact business within the agreement. The Council recognized that, where substantial supplies of wheat were available for export in excess of current demand, the possibility persisted that the conditions of international trade in wheat could deteriorate to an extent that would have serious implications for international trade in general and the economies of wheat exporting and importing countries in particular, unless an orderly adjustment to more normal levels of supply and demand could be assured and maintained. The Council unanimously agreed that the cooperation of all wheat importing and exporting countries was essential to prevent such a situation from developing and that the International Wheat Agreement was the instrument for such international cooperation.