Oklahoma Archives - U.S. Wheat Associates

USDA Foreign Agricultural Service cooperator U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) works closely with government agencies, both domestic and foreign, to ensure that free trade agreements (FTA) and tariff rate quotas (TRQ) are carried out and to help maintain a positive trading environment for U.S. wheat producers.

Moroccan wheat imports are subject to a TRQ for hard red winter (HRW), hard red spring (HRS) and durum wheat under a bilateral FTA with the United States. However, its implementation has faced difficulties due a difference in the interpretation of the agreement and corresponding administrative procedures. The TRQ annual amount varies, depending on the size of the local wheat crop. U.S. preference is calculated on a calendar year basis, so Morocco typically tenders for the entire TRQ amount at the beginning of the calendar year when U.S. wheat is usually not price competitive with other sources. This is a problem for U.S. wheat imports, especially when Morocco only typically launches one tender annually. The timing of the tenders often means Morocco meets the basic terms of the FTA but has no or low TRQ utilization for U.S. wheat.

In 2014, Morocco only allocated 9,000 metric tons (MT) of the 400,000 MT TRQ. That was the only year between 2011 and 2015 that our FTA partner purchased U.S. wheat under the TRQ. Morocco’s government buying agency did tender three times in 2016, but the 800,000 MT of U.S. HRW it did import was due to crop failure in Morocco rather than any substantial TRQ policy improvements.

USW staff based in Casablanca, Morocco, and Europe worked closely with trade policy staff at its headquarters in Arlington, Va., to collect all relevant information on historical tenders as well as rules and participation in FTA related activities. USW also outlined a detailed comparison between the U.S. FTA with Morocco and the FTA Morocco has with the European Union (EU), which showed unfair advantages to EU-produced wheat.

USW presented this information to the FAS and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representatives (USTR). USW, together with FAS and USTR, convinced Morocco’s Cereals Office (ONICL) to issue multiple tenders to fairly evaluate U.S. wheat under the TRQ at different periods during the marketing year.

Because of this trade service activity, funded in part by U.S. wheat farmers and with the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) program, Morocco imported 360,000 MT of HRW during the first half of marketing year 2017/18 under the Morocco FTA, for only the second time in 11 years, representing the entire TRQ allotment for purchases of common wheat. The TRQ imports returned about $70 million to U.S. wheat farmers in the Southern and Central Plains and wheat export supply participants.

May 1, 2018/by Erica Oakley

baking, Colombia, Colorado, flour, Foreign Agricultural Service, hard red winter, HRW, Kansas, Market Access Program, Nebraska, Oklahoma, technical service, Texas, U.S. wheat, U.S. Wheat Associates, Wheat Hard Red Winter

Baking Workshops Build Demand for U.S. Hard Red Winter Wheat in Colombia

In Colombia, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service cooperator U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) is helping increase demand for flour made from U.S. hard red winter (HRW) wheat by investing in technical support for commercial bakeries using funding from the Market Access Program (MAP).

Demand for better quality baked goods is growing in Colombia, with increasing disposable consumer income in urban areas like the capital Bogota. To offset traditional preferences for Canadian spring wheat as the main source of flour in Colombia, USW is following a strategy to conduct artisan style bread baking seminars. The processes they are teaching produce better quality bread that appeals to consumers and require flour with more HRW, which helps bakeries reduce input costs compared to flour from higher priced Canadian spring wheat flour.

For example, USW contracted with baking consultant Didier Rosada to conduct a full week of baking and technical consulting in August 2017 at a large commercial bakery chain in Bogota that produces over 117 bread varieties, two pastry product lines and more than 60 à la carte dishes in its restaurants. The company found the demonstrations so appealing, it immediately asked suppliers to provide the HRW flour blend that Rosada used in his seminars. As a direct result of this MAP-funded export market development activity, one of the company’s flour supplier imported a relatively small volume of HRW in November 2017. Immediate sales of that flour convinced the mill to change its artisan bread flour blend from a base of 80 percent Canadian Western Red Spring wheat to 100% HRW in 2017 and it became the regular supplier to the bakery chain.

In marketing years 2014/15 and 2015/16 (June to May), Colombia imported 430,000 metric tons (MT) of HRW. The technical support strategy there has helped increase HRW commercial sales to 977,000 MT in 2016/17 and 2017/18, supporting U.S. wheat farmers from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska. These exports represent total revenue of about $217 million.

May 1, 2018/by Erica Oakley

U.S. Wheat Associates (USW), a cooperator with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) built a large and loyal market for U.S. hard red winter (HRW) wheat in Nigeria through trade service and technical assistance. Success in Nigeria is now a model for nearby markets like Cameroon where a food company is now building demand for instant noodles.

By importing an annual average of 2.36 million metric tons of U.S. HRW the five years between 2009/10 and 2014/15, Nigeria was the leading HRW buyer in the world. While most HRW is milled for bread flour, to reach such levels, USW also helped establish HRW as the preferred wheat for Asian noodle flour in Nigeria.

As it continued to support Nigerian millers and food processors, USW used Emerging Market Program (EMP) funding to invite prospective buyers from neighboring Cameroon and other countries to learn more about the success enjoyed by their Nigerian colleagues. After meeting with Nigerian flour millers at USW’s request, a major food manufacturer decided to produce instant noodle products in his country.

To foster that desire, USW brought company representatives to Portland, Ore., to attend Introductory and Advanced Instant Noodle Technology & Processing short courses at the Wheat Marketing Center. USW also provided in-plant technical support and trade service information. The business owner credits each level of support from EMP-funded USW activities for giving the company the opportunity to introduce instant noodles and see rapid growth in demand.

Starting with about 9,000 metric tons of Nigerian-milled HRW flour, the company soon needed a local supplier. The outcome of activities in Cameroon, funded through the EMP, was 55,900 metric tons of new HRW exports over two marketing years. The business owner was so positive about potential growth, he planned to renovate a closed flour mill to import and mill HRW for instant noodle production.

USW continues to promote HRW use in instant noodle production in Nigeria, Cameroon, Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Senegal. It is expected that current and incremental HRW exports will benefit wheat farmers in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota.

December 31, 2015/by Amanda Spoo

While U.S. farmers supply nearly 80 percent of wheat imports into the Caribbean region, some importing countries have traditionally preferred Canadian wheat, including Guyana. However, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) cooperator U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) is now displacing Canadian sales there by demonstrating how the characteristics of U.S. wheat offer a higher return to flour millers.

Noting that Canadian Western Red Spring wheat is pre-cleaned at export elevators and has higher moisture content than U.S. wheat, Canadian marketers in the past strongly suggested that flour mills could expand production capacity without cleaning or tempering (adding water at the mill). In fact, by adding water to an optimum level for milling, U.S. wheat allows the mills to condition their grist to an ideal moisture that allows them to increase their flour yields and profitability.

Using Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) funds, USW has long supported the Caribbean Millers Association and first started challenging the Canadian wheat position in discussions with members of the association. Then, following a trade servicing visit by USW, a mill in Guyana decided to construct a cleaning house. To support a transition to milling U.S. wheat, USW sent a consultant to the mill who demonstrated how to specify for reduced dockage in U.S. wheat tenders.

As a result, Guyana received its first commercial shipment of 6,800 metric tons (MT) of U.S. wheat in May 2013. The next marketing year, U.S. wheat sales to Guyana reached 20,300 MT, equal to a 50 percent market share. And in marketing year 2014/15, Guyana imported 30,100 MT of U.S. hard red spring (HRS), hard red winter (HRW) and soft white (SW) wheat representing returns that go to the U.S. wheat industry from the Gulf of Mexico back to farms in North Dakota, Oklahoma, Kansas, Washington and Oregon.

December 31, 2015/by Amanda Spoo

Trade Service Improves U.S. Wheat Import Opportunity in Morocco

Baking Workshops Build Demand for U.S. Hard Red Winter Wheat in Colombia

Spreading Success through Service: USW Helps Establish Noodle Market in Cameroon

Technical Assistance Helps Displace Competition in Guyana’s Wheat Market

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