$1 billion success in Brazil for U.S. wheat

U.S. Wheat Associates' education and engagement with millers in Brazil helped generate $1 billion in sales during the 2013/14 marketing year on a $100,000 investment. Read the full story here.

Year after year, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) tells the story of reliable, high-quality, American-grown wheat to Brazilian millers. This paid off last year when they could not import enough wheat from Argentina and their government suspended a 10-percent tariff on wheat from the United States. 

When the tariff was lifted in April 2013, USW brought representatives from Brazil's largest milling company to Manhattan, Kan., to visit the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center, the International Grains Program, the USDA Center for Grain and Animal Health Research and a local wheat farm. 

Over the next few months, USW sponsored seminars in Brazil for flour mills and purchasing managers, providing technical and market information. 

At the end of 2013/14, U.S. wheat sales to Brazil totaled more than 151 million bushels of U.S. hard red winter (HRW) wheat, or about one-third of total HRW sales for the entire 2013/14 marketing year, and more than 7.2 million bushels of soft red winter (SRW). Including sales from April and May 2013, Brazil imported 158 million bushels of U.S. wheat valued at more than $1.2 billion.

It's difficult to predict how political or economic forces will impact Brazil's traditional Latin American wheat suppliers. But one thing is certain: U.S. wheat growers now are valued in Brazil as the reliable supplier committed to their customers' success.