WEST PERTH, AUSTRALIA — The CBH Grain Wheat and Technical Marketing provided a detailed presentation on the technical and quality aspects of Australia’s recently harvested crop during a recent trip to Japan, CBH said on March 1.

CBH Grain Technical Marketing Manager Narelle Moore said that it is extremely important to customers that they receive a timely quality report accompanied by a detailed presentation to explain and discuss year-to-year quality differentials.

“The ability of a flour mill to manage quality fluctuations based on advanced information is highly valued, so these crop updates are extremely well supported,” she said. “This was the fourth consecutive year that CBH Grain has presented this report in Japan. Our technical marketing program gives end-users confidence in our understanding of key aspects of wheat quality from a milling perspective.”

Moore said the 2011-12 harvest has seen an increased availability of ANW, which has given Japanese and Korean end-users a level of comfort in the ability of Western Australia to continue the stable supply of noodle wheat going forward.

“The CBH Grain Technical team focuses on providing end-users with information on the wheat’s functional characteristics which are not necessarily reflected in the receival specifications,” Moore said. “Unfortunately the grain this year has low starch quality and low protein, which may cause processing issues in Japan. Importantly, APWN has stood out this year as having superior noodle quality to APW, which will assist in gaining market acceptance.”

In the wake of CBH Grain’s crop updates, the Japanese industry has subsequently confirmed a return to traditional blending ratios, after the proportion of noodle wheat was reduced last year due to drought-affected WA production in 2010.