ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S. — Four Taiwan flour milling managers will be in the U.S. July 15-27 to learn more about the new crop of hard red spring (HRS), hard red winter (HRW) and hard white (HW) wheat and observe U.S. wheat quality control standards.

U.S Wheat Associates (USW) is sponsoring the trade team with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), state wheat commissions in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Colorado and Nebraska and private exporters.

“Flour millers in Taiwan prefer U.S. wheat and buy an average of about 80 percent of their total imports from American farmers,” said USW Country Manager Ronald Lu, who is traveling with the team. “It is still very important for these managers to see for themselves the effort that farmers, wheat breeders and grain handlers take to produce a reliable supply of high-quality wheat for the Taiwan market.”

The millers are all from member companies of the Taiwan Flour Millers Association (TFMA) based in Taipei. TFMA imports wheat on behalf of all 26 Taiwanese flour mills and has been a loyal customer of U.S. wheat producers for many years. On average for the past five years, Taiwan has imported about 33 million bushels (910,000 tonnes) of U.S. wheat each year.

This team will essentially follow the U.S. wheat supply chain backward from the port to university breeding programs. The journey starts in Portland, Oregon, with visits to Columbia Grain, the Wheat Marketing Center and Federal Grain Inspection Service offices. Hard white wheat is featured in scheduled visits to several breeders, farmers and processors while grain handlers demonstrate the efficiency and quality control that helps make the U.S. the most reliable wheat supplier in the world.

The trip will also help inform a healthy bread promotion in Taiwan that USW is conducting with other U.S. agricultural organizations through the USDA FAS Global Broad-Based Initiative program.