Philippine Trade Team Visits PNW

For the last four years more than 90 percent of The Philippines imported wheat has come from the United States. And although the Philippines is the fifth largest market for all classes of U.S. wheat, it was the largest importers of both soft white and hard red spring wheat this last marketing year. More than half of the end product consumption in the Philippines is in bakery products like cookies, cakes and pastries.
Earlier this week a trade team of five women who represent mills with a significant share of the wheat imported from the U.S. made several stops across the Pacific Northwest learning more about the region’s wheat.
Antonina Sio, a trade team participant and San Miguel Mills Research and Development Manager, shares her impressions of the team’s time in the Pacific Northwest
Sio: “So this visit is really very interesting in terms of seeing where our soft white wheat is coming from. Where it is planted. How it is being tested, analyzed, and stored in the terminals — seeing the elevators. But I think the most exciting part for most of us would be in the wheat fields, seeing the wheat harvested in a combine. Riding a combine and getting that personal experience of touching that golden soft white wheat right in front of us.”