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Agricultural News

Nigerian Trade Team Surveys U.S. HRW Wheat Crop

Nine representatives from the top milling and food companies in Nigeria will travel to four states to survey the new wheat crop from June 2 to 12 as part of an annual trade team visit. On average, Nigeria is the second largest buyer of U.S. wheat.


For a firsthand look at this year's hard red winter (HRW) and hard white (HW) crops, the team will meet with university researchers and tour grain and wheat foods facilities in Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas. Trade team members will also talk with wheat farmers in the field, including a stop at the farm of USW Vice Chairman Dan Hughes in Venango, NE.


"Trade teams bring together both the beginning and end of the grain chain," said Gerald Theus, assistant regional director for the U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Sub-Sahara African Office in Cape Town, South Africa. "Visits like this one allow our Nigerian customers to make a personal connection with U.S. wheat farmers - who consistently produce the high quality wheat Nigeria's industry needs."


Theus and Muyiwa Talabi, USW's marketing consultant based in Lagos, Nigeria, will accompany this year's team. The Nigerian team was sponsored in part by the Oklahoma Wheat Commission and funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's market development programs. USW also collaborated with the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee, Nebraska Wheat Board and Kansas Wheat to organize this year's Nigerian team. Trade teams like this one reinforce the reliability, quality and value of the U.S. wheat crop to wheat buyers from around the world.


This team includes representatives from the Nigeria's leading flour mills. One of the companies, Flour Mills of Nigeria, is the world's largest importer of HW wheat, shipped from its own export elevator in Corpus Christi, TX. This company and other Nigerian flour mills also import significant amounts of HRW, hard red spring (HRS), soft red winter (SRW) and durum.


For more information on USW's work in Nigeria, view "U.S. Wheat and Nigeria: A Trade Success Story" at http://bit.ly/mtuNcV.


USW is the industry’s market development organization 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.