Developing countries may benefit from 2002 harvest surplus

The government might donate 30,000 tonnes of wheat to hunger-stricken countries, possibly in Africa, Agriculture Minister Jaroslaw Kalinowski said yesterday. The government's farm market intervention agency has around one million tonnes of grain in store after this year's abundant harvest. Last week the agency offered its first intervention sale this year to stabilize prices on the domestic market, but failed to find buyers as local mills have full warehouses. Pope John Paul II, visiting his homeland in August, suggested that Poland could give away some of its produce to poorer African countries. "The government wishes to give 30,000 tonnes of wheat to needy people," Kalinowski told a news conference. The market has speculated that the leftist cabinet might give away as much as 500,000 tonnes of grain. Such a move would spare it the embarrassment of selling at a huge loss intervention stocks bought far above current market prices. Kalinowski did not say to what country the wheat might be donated, or when the government would reach a decision. The national grain output was 26 million tonnes in 2002. (Reuters) A.C.