THE MARKET VALUATION OF THE FGIS GRAIN QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS

The issue addressed in this paper is whether the grain quality factors used by the Federal Grain Inspection Service in determining the quali ty grades of wheat exported by the United States including test weight , dockage, moisture content, percentage of foreign material, percentag e of shrunken and broken kernels, and protein content are characterist ics that influence the price of wheat for export. Using shiplot data o n the transactions price for hard red winter wheat, hard red spring wh eat, and soft white wheat and the associated quality characteristics c overing the period January 1990 to October 1991 and exported to 63 cou ntries, the results suggest that only the test weight and the protein content are characteristics consistently valued by the market.