The wheat crop of the northern hemisphere has now everywhere been brought in, and harvesting of the new crop in the southern hemisphere will begin in the next few weeks. Estimates suggest that the crop will again be well in excess of requirements. According to the recently published forecast of the International Institute of Agriculture, world production of wheat, excluding Russia, China, Iraq, and Iran, for which no data are available, is likely to amount to 4,175,000,000 bushels in the present season, compared with last season's crop of 4,503,000,000 bushels.—Exportable surpluses will be about 1,313,000,000 (against 1,146,000,000) bushels. World import requirements are reckoned to be 600,000,000 (618,000,000) bushels, so that stocks at the end of this season would reach—718,000,000 (against 528,000,000) bushels, writes a correspondent to the "Manchester Guardian."
France, heavily dependent on wheat imports in 1914-18, is now self-sufficient. In the United States the average acreage under wheat has been extended from 52,000,000 acres before the World War to 68,000,000 acres at present, In Canada the acreage has been increased from 10,000,000 to 24,000,000 acres. In Australia the increase was from 8,000,000 to 13,000,000 acres, and in Argentina from 16,000,000 to 19,000,- 000 acres.
In the United Kingdom the bread consumption is roughly equal to 270,000,000 bushels per year, of which about 200,000,000 bushels must be imported in-the form of wheat and wheat flour. Canada's exportable surplus alone will be about 450,000,000 bushels this season, and there are other countries, including Australia, India, and Argentina, which are anxious to sell to this country.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.