Asia is Top Buyer of Pacific Northwest Soft White Wheat

Asia is Top Buyer of Pacific Northwest Soft White Wheat

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

Last week, while on the Washington Grain Commission Wheat Export Tour in Portland I spoke to Steve Wirsching, Vice President and Director of the U.S. Wheat Associates West Coast Office about the international demand for the Pacific Northwest’s soft white wheat. He says approximately 87 percent of all soft wheat grown is exported and the primarily region purchasing the most is Asia. Japan is the number one purchaser in the world of soft white wheat. In fact one out of every four bushels exported goes to Japan.

Wirsching: “Farmers have done an excellent job of producing a product that is very consistent that performs very well. The end use performance to make Japanese spongecake is fantastic. Also they like the reliability and cleanliness of soft white that comes out of this market. You are pre-cleaning your wheat for export and are meeting the Japanese specs of 3/10s of one percent dockage and that is a big selling point.”

He says this year’s Pacific Northwest’s soft white crop made his team’s job of selling it easier.
Wirsching: “The quality of the crop is excellent. The protein level of 9.8 is pretty much what the market is looking for. The crop has very low damage and the majority crop did grade a number one or better. The buyers are very happy.”