Crop Quality Archives - U.S. Wheat Associates

2022, Crop Quality, hard red spring, hard red spring wheat, hard red winter, Korea, Korean Flour Millers Association Hard Red Spring, Hard Red Winter, Soft White

USW Helps Korean Flour Millers See Value in U.S. Wheat Purchases

The run-up in U.S. and global wheat prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine made intensive trade service even more important for U.S. wheat importing customers. Foreign Market Development (FMD) program funds helped U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) gave Korean flour millers the experience needed to continue purchasing U.S. wheat in July 2022.

USW Seoul brought six flour milling executives responsible for wheat purchases through their membership in the Korea Flour Millers Industry Association (KOFMIA) to Montana, Washington State and Oregon to see the 2022 wheat crops and gain a better understanding of how the U.S. wheat supply chain ensures quality and value.

Loyalty is Strong

Even though U.S. wheat prices were higher than competing supplies, in August 2022, KOFMIA purchased 82,500 MT of hard red spring (HRS), hard red winter (HRW) and soft white (SW) wheat with an FOB value of $31.8 million. Based on information from the U.S. visit, KOFMIA saved money by adjusting SW protein specifications without compromising functional quality.

Then, in January 2023, one of the millers on the team contacted USW for guidance on a potential opportunity for SW prices. USW demonstrated the advantageous spread between SW and Australian soft wheat. The USW recommendation resulted in an additional purchase of 2,000 MT of SW with an FOB value of $616,000.

September 22, 2023/by Steve Mercer

Crop Quality, crop quality seminars, Foreign Agricultural Service, hard red spring, hard red winter, soft white, U.S. wheat, U.S. Wheat Associates, U.S. wheat exports Hard Red Spring, Hard Red Winter, Soft White

Crop Quality Seminars Create Ideal Environment for South Asian Wheat Export Sales

Fully disclosing the quality of new wheat crops is an effective trade service activity for USDA Foreign Agricultural Service cooperator U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) to help its overseas customers prepare to purchase U.S. milling wheat. In South Asia, Crop Quality Seminars funded in part by the Market Access Program (MAP) directly stimulated sales of U.S. hard red spring (HRS) and soft white (SW) in 2018.

USW hosted three Crop Quality Seminars in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia in November 2018. Nearly 200 milling and baking companies participates in these seminars, including representatives from Vietnam, Malaysia and Burma (Myanmar) at the Bangkok Seminar.

The seminars present a wide range of data on the grade, protein, soundness, milling and baking quality of all six U.S. wheat classes. USW gathers this data throughout harvest from private and USDA partner organizations also funded by MAP. The final USW Crop Quality Report is printed and shipped to seminar locations. The teams that represent U.S. wheat include USW representatives from the United States and the organization’s South Asia Region, who come from offices in Singapore and Manila supported by Foreign Market Development (FMD) funds.

U.S. farmers and invited consultants also travel with the Crop Quality Teams. In 2018, for example, Dr. Art Bettge, retired Director of the USDA-ARS Western Wheat Quality Laboratory in Pullman, WA, presented information on the SW quality and breeding programs helping to meet growing demand for more and improved SW wheat from Asian markets. Dr. Senay Simsek, professor and head of Wheat Quality & Carbohydrate Research at North Dakota State University discussed HRS data and related U.S. food processing innovation related to “clean label” bread products.

U.S. grain merchandisers representing Pacific Northwest exporters and their regional affiliates joined the seminars in all three locations. They introduced the logistics, movement and other factors affecting wheat export prices. Their direct participation helped foster convenient connections between these private sellers and customers attending the seminars.

Participant surveys indicated the buyers rated the value of the content and speakers very highly. And the grain merchandisers reported booking export sales of more than 200,000 metric tons of U.S. HRS and SW with an approximate value of $50 million as a direct result of the seminars. The estimated investment in the three South Asian seminars from MAP funds and in-kind contributions from state wheat commissions is $130,000. Total accumulated export sales of HRS, SW and hard red winter (HRW) for marketing year 2018/19 to the countries represented at these three seminars reached a record level of almost 5.6 million metric tons, benefiting farmers and U.S. wheat supply industries in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Minnesota.

November 24, 2018/by Erica Oakley

Because no two crops are alike, the world’s flour millers, bakers and wheat food processors must have some assurance that the wheat they buy will meet their needs. That is why USDA Foreign Agricultural Service cooperator U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) and its partner organizations collect and analyze samples of all six classes of U.S. wheat, compile results and share that data around the world every year.

Legacy organizations to USW first identified the need to quickly gather and share new crop data in 1960. Since then, wheat farmer checkoff dollars and Market Access Program (MAP) funding have been invested to publish a complete picture of each year’s harvest. This commitment to transparency offers confidence in the data that, together with the trade service and technical support also funded by MAP and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) program, help differentiate U.S. wheat exportable supplies from competing supplies from Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Canada, Australia and Argentina.

USW works with several wheat quality organizations, including the Federal Grain Inspection Service and the USDA/ARS Hard Winter Wheat Quality Laboratory, to collect, grade and analyze thousands of wheat samples from local elevators and sub-lot samples from export elevators. Sampling begins with early winter wheat harvest and continues until the U.S. hard red spring (HRS) and durum harvests are complete, usually by early October. The data is compiled by class and by production region. By late October, class reports and a complete USW Crop Quality Report are published on USW’s website and the Crop Quality Report is printed as a booklet in English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Mandarin.

USW then sends teams of farmers, wheat quality experts and representatives out to present that year’s data to its buyers. By mid-December, USW has presented current characteristics on grade factors, protein levels, flour extraction rates, dough stability, baking loaf volume, noodle color and texture and more for all six U.S. wheat classes to hundreds of buyers, millers and processors in more than 25 countries. Buying decisions are made because of this effort; some are acted upon quickly. For example, with information they learned at USW’s 2015 Crop Quality Seminar, millers in Portugal imported 36,500 metric tons of HRS for the first time in 3 years.

U.S. wheat crop quality data forms the basis for our farmers’ ability to compete in the global wheat market. Without funding from MAP and the support of federally-funded inspection and quality analysis labs, this essential service to overseas customers would not be possible. It provides crucial support to annual U.S. wheat export sales averaging more than 26 million metric tons per year.

December 31, 2017/by Amanda Spoo

USW Helps Korean Flour Millers See Value in U.S. Wheat Purchases

Loyalty is Strong

Crop Quality Seminars Create Ideal Environment for South Asian Wheat Export Sales

USW Provides Essential Wheat Crop Quality Data Every Year

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