South African team surveys HRW crop in Kansas

A South African trade team is visiting Kansas this week to obtain a firsthand glimpse of the 2013 hard red winter (HRW) crop. The team arrived in Kansas on July 6, 2013 and has spent the week visiting with wheat farmers, researchers, inspectors, traders and baking experts.

USW collaborated with Kansas Wheat to organise the team, which included two representatives from Premier Foods, who markets a number of the country's top flour and corn meal brands, and one member of the OLAM trading group. Domenique De Oliveira, USW regional program/information systems coordinator , based in the USW Cape Town office, accompanied the team.

“These team members are well recognised in the South African milling industry for their evaluations of imported wheat quality,” said Ed Wiese, USW regional vice president for Sub-Saharan Africa . “The information gained from this farm to inspection visit will be very useful in their discussions for future purchases of U.S. wheat.”

South Africa is the largest wheat producer in Sub-Saharan Africa, but imports between 1.2 and 1.7 million metric tons of wheat each year. Importers annually assess the quality and price of local and world wheat crops and purchase accordingly from multiple origins.
USW is the industry’s market development organisation working in more than 100 countries. Its mission is to “develop, maintain, and expand international markets to enhance the profitability of U.S. wheat producers and their customers.” USW activities are made possible through producer checkoff dollars managed by 19 state wheat commissions and cost-share funding provided by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. USW maintains 17 offices strategically located around the world to help wheat buyers, millers, bakers, wheat food processors and government officials understand the quality, value and reliability of all six classes of U.S. wheat.

Wheat (Photo credit: gedem)