Producer Trade Mission Visits Wheat Import Countries

By Tracy Sayler

Four U.S. wheat producers—including two from Minnesota and
North Dakota—participated in a trade mission recently in Georgia, Morocco, The Netherlands and Spain.

Ellsworth Danielson, a Fosston, MN, producer and director on the board of the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council, participated in the trade mission through sponsorship by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Also participating were Langdon producer Charlie Rohde, commissioner on the board of the North Dakota Wheat Commission; Nebraska producer Pat Nelson; and Texas producer Tommy Womack. The group was accompanied by Richard Callies, vice president of marketing programs for U.S. Wheat Associates, the organization funded in part by the wheat checkoff which works to promote the use of American wheat around the world.

Bread is traditionally an essential part of diets in Georgia, a former Soviet republic. Domestic production accounts for only 33% of wheat demand in Georgia. Lack of inputs, certified seed, and unstable weather conditions account for the low quality of local wheat.  Thus, higher quality imports account for about 65% of Georgian milling wheat demand.  Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Russia are suppliers, but concessional sales and donations have created a more positive attitude and outlook for U.S. wheat in this market.  In FY1999, Georgia used a $5 million PL-480 allocation to purchase 32.7 million metric tons (mmt) of hard red winter wheat, according to USW.  Georgian buyers were not in a position to make any purchases on the international market, however, and U.S. wheat share dropped from 23% to 16%.

Morocco imports mostly bread wheat and, over the long-term, increased wheat imports will be necessary to meet increased demand resulting from population growth and structural changes in consumption due to urbanization. Since the demise of the Export Enhancement Program in 1994/95, American bread wheat competitiveness in Morocco is based largely upon the level of European Union export subsidies. However, liberalization in Moroccan wheat purchases, with more private mill buyers making decisions, has resulted in greater weight given to quality and end-use considerations in wheat importing.

U.S. Wheat Classes Valued for Blending and Yield
It is expected that U.S. wheat classes will become increasingly valued, given their utility in wheat blending, end-use specificity and high product yield. However, more work is needed to increase miller expertise in properly evaluating the intrinsic value of American wheat.  Of Morocco’s 3.1 mmt of imports in 1999, 0.4 mmt or about 13% was from the U.S.  The U.S. had a 64% marketshare in Morocco in 1992, when EEP was in place.

Spring wheat and occasionally durum are increasingly being used for blending in both The Netherlands and Spain.  The high protein spring wheat is used for blending purposes to enhance the quality of flour produced, since European wheats generally do not give the strength and elasticity demonstrated by U.S. wheat.  Of Spain’s 4 mmt of wheat imported in 1999, about 0.35 or 9% was from the U.S., all hard red spring.

Danielson says the group was well received on the various stops of the trade mission. A common question was whether the U.S. will be selling genetically-engineered wheat soon—virtually all wheat buyers in Europe are opposed to it. The group assured buyers that biotech wheat is still several years away from commercialization, and that the U.S. wheat industry will do everything it can to assure that buyers are supplied the specification of wheat that they want.

At the U.S. Wheat Associates-sponsored milling and baking school in Casablanca, Morocco, are from left, a student at the school; Langdon, ND producer Charlie Rohde; George Galasso, regional director of the USW office in Casablanca; a professor at the school; Texas producer Tommy Womack, and Fosston, MN producer Ellsworth Danielson. The school helps train students about the various technical aspects of milling and baking. “I really think that the school helps sell our wheat,” says Danielson.

A cous cous dryer operating in Morocco.  Cous cous is a traditional Moroccan food made from semolina.

These long-armed “vaculators” at an unloading facility at the Port of Rotterdam are used to clean up remaining grain at the bottom of a ship.

The U.S. Food Guide Pyramid—with grains foods at its base and an emphasis of 6 to 11 servings daily— is displayed (in Arabic) on the wall of the USW-sponsored milling and baking school in Morocco.

A boat unloads U.S. spring wheat at Meneba Mill, at the Port of Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

                                                                                                                                                                           Ground flour is transported for distribution in double-trailer trucks at Meneba Mill, one of the largest mills in The Netherlands.

Baking ovens at Meneba Mill are used to analyze flour ground from imported wheat, to ensure that it meets ordered specifications.