ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, US — Wheat buyers from Nigeria and Kenya toured the United States recently, learning about the supply chain for hard red winter, hard red spring and hard white wheat with visits to farms and facilities in three US Midwest states.
US Wheat Associates (USW) guided the trade team representing companies for a pair of important African markets. Nigeria is an established customer and the fourth-largest importer of US wheat while Kenya is a developing market that has seen a steady increase in wheat foods consumption, USW said.
Kansas Wheat hosted the African team for visits with wheat growers and stops at the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center and US Department of Agriculture’s Center for Grain and Animal Health Research. During a visit to the IGP Institute at Kansas State University, the team learned about technical training and assistance programs. A commercial flour mill in McPherson, Kansas, US, was part of the visit, as well as a stop at the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) in Kansas City, Missouri, US.
Before Kansas, the team met with wheat farmers and received an update from the Northern Crops Institute (NCI) in North Dakota. The Minnesota portion included meetings with Minnesota Wheat, grain traders at CHS and a tour of port loading facilities in Duluth, Minnesota, US.
“Our goal was to show them the US supply chain,” said Chad Weigand, USW regional director for Sub-Saharan Africa. “We also wanted to explain how the quality of wheat grown in the states is monitored through the inspection process. These visits are very important to customers in Africa who want to be assured they are getting the quality they want. We have competition in these markets, and face-to-face visits go a long way in providing trust and confidence in wheat from the US.”
The United States has been the top wheat supplier to Nigeria in two of the past five years, USW said. In 2021-22, US wheat exports to Nigeria, which has the largest economy and population in Africa, increased to 1.63 million tonnes, and the US market share was 30%.
Kenya is seeing growth in wheat demand due to increased urbanization, USW said. Most of the wheat flour in Kenya is used for home baking of chapatti (flat bread). New products are being introduced and branded for specific end-uses: chapati flour, mandazi flour, self-rising flour, and others.
