U.S. Wheat Breeders Talk With Asian Buyers

03/04/99 BOZEMAN -- U.S. Wheat Associates recently decided it would help expand American export markets if it took U.S. wheat breeders to hear Asian buyers describe what they want in a wheat variety.

"I felt that the breeders needed to hear the message first-hand," said Mark Sampson of U.S. Wheat Associates' Singapore office.

The meetings Sampson set up in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand provided that message, says Phil Bruckner, winter wheat breeder for the Agricultural Experiment Station at Montana State University-Bozeman.

Bruckner traveled with a group in January that included John Oades, team leader for U.S. Wheat Associates in Portland, Ore.; Jackie Rudd, spring wheat breeder in Brookings, S.D.; Ed Souza, wheat breeder in Aberdeen, Idaho; Craig Morris of the USDA Wheat Quality Laboratory in Pullman, Wash.; Gary Hareland of the USDA Wheat Quality Laboratory in Fargo, N.D.; and Mike Peel, a small grain Extension specialist also in Fargo.

Fast-food noodles represent the fastest growing segment of the Asian market, says Bruckner, and hard white wheats are what that market requires.

Bruckner reported that Asian wheat buyers said they were concerned about several characteristics of U.S. wheat as compared to the wheats sold by Australia. In particular they mentioned a lack of uniformity of U.S. wheat and a lack of consistent cleanliness of U.S. grains.

Unlike Australia and Canada, the U.S. ships grain that exactly meets buyer specifications but does not exceed those specifications for cleanliness, says Bruckner. Since Canada and Australia sometimes ship grain that exceeds a buyer's specifications, the U.S. policy of just meeting specs means buyers must specify a higher quality, and pay for higher quality, to get the consistency and cleanliness that they sometimes receive from Australia or Canada, adds Bruckner.

The concerns buyers mentioned about wheat cleanliness, says Bruckner, included wheat dockage (the weed seed and foreign matter in the wheat) and shrunken and broken kernels. Dockage is higher in U.S. wheat than in Canadian and Australian wheat, he said.

Right now, a buyer of U.S. wheat usually receives a "composite" of many varieties, grown in many regions of the United States, said Kai Soon Loo in an email from his U.S. Wheat Associates' office in Singapore.

Specialized wheats, and identity preserved wheats, may help with both the cleanliness and the need for wheats with specific characteristics that are better for noodles. However, identity preserved wheats have extra costs associated with them.

"Many of these problems wheat breeders can't solve because they are due to policy," added Bruckner, "but we can make sure we have the best white wheats possible."

Getting Montana hard white wheats known as the best for noodles is one of Bruckner's goals. Right now the United States is better known for its hard red wheats that are better for bread, said Loo.

Identity preservation of wheats will help meet quality concerns, says Bruckner. Right now, there are two relatively new MSU hard white wheats. One is a new spring wheat (MTHW9420) which has high bread quality, and the second, NuWest that has both excellent noodle quality and bread quality. Both are identity-preserved varieties.

All of our new hard winter wheats are being aimed at meeting the needs of Asian millers as well as those in the United States, says Bruckner.

-----

Photos by Phil Bruckner of the trip to Asia are available on the web.

Computer control room at terminal 5 of Columbia Grain, Inc. export facility at Portland, Ore. (thumbnail seen at right)
Hi-rez jpg: http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/ag/asia/export2.jpg

Yamazaki Baking Company bakers display their dough in Yokahama, Japan
Hi-rez jpg: http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/ag/asia/dough.jpg

Japanese noodles in bright packages:

Hi-rez jpg: http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/ag/asia/britnodl.jpg

Send questions or comments to Carol Flaherty, MSU Communications Services, Bozeman, MT 59717 or to Flaherty with this link: carolf@montana.edu.

You are the 8792nd person to access this page.