  An estimate is derived for the absolute magnitude of BFKL pomeron exchange at
$t=0$. The analysis takes account of energy conservation and of the need
realistically to model nonperturbative contributions to the BFKL integral from
infrared regions. Experiment finds that there is little or no room for a
significant BFKL term in soft processes, and this constrains its magnitude in
hard and semihard processes, so that it is unlikely to be detectable.
