Article Summary
A US wheat trade team tour of grain facilities in Ohio and Kansas led Brazilian miller Bunge to purchase 15,000 metric tons of US soft red winter wheat in mid-July, marking the company's first US wheat buy of the year and demonstrating the effectiveness of farm tours in building international buyer confidence.
- Bunge purchased 15,000 metric tons (551,000 bushels) of US soft red winter wheat following the trade team visit in mid-July
- The tour included stops at USDA labs, grain elevators, Ohio State University facilities, and commercial operations in Kansas
- Brazil ranks among the world's largest wheat importers and has imported US wheat for more than 40 years
- The trade team included representatives from Brazilian milling and food industries covering procurement, processing, and manufacturing
- US soft red winter wheat is used in Brazilian bakery products like cookies, cakes, and flour blends as a blending wheat for consistency
A wheat tour for Brazilian buyers that lead to Bunge purchased approximately 15,000 metric tons of U.S. soft red winter wheat in mid-July following a trade team visit to grain facilities in Ohio and Kansas. The purchase, equal to 551,000 bushels, represents the Brazilian miller’s first U.S. wheat buy of the year. This purchase has shown the value of farm tours for forgine buyers like this one hosted by the U.S. Wheat Associates, Ohio Small Grains Marketing Program and Kansas Wheat.
The wheat will supply Mondelez’s industrial operations and may lead to more purchases later in 2026, according to Claudia Gomez, regional marketing manager in the U.S. Wheat Associates Santiago Office, who led the four-member Brazilian team.
“The business had been developing over the course of the weeks leading up to the visit,” Gomez said. “The customer indicated that the trade team visit played an important role in reinforcing the company’s confidence in U.S. wheat and helping reaffirm its preference for SRW wheat as a reliable choice.”
The team included representatives from Brazilian milling and food industries, covering wheat procurement, industrial processing and end-product manufacturing. In Brazil, soft red winter wheat goes into cookies, cakes and bakery flour blends, typically as a blending wheat to improve consistency.
In Ohio, the team evaluated the functional performance of soft red winter wheat in cookies and crackers at the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s Soft Wheat Quality Laboratory. They visited a grain elevator, toured field plots and greenhouses at The Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute and met with Ohio wheat farmers about production practices.
The Kansas portion focused on commercial operations. The team visited the USDA Federal Grain Inspection Service to learn about grain inspection and logistics, toured the Frito-Lay Factory in Topeka and met with grain trade members in Kansas City.
Brazil ranks among the world’s largest wheat importers, driven by bakery and biscuit applications and supported by a well-developed milling industry. The country has imported U.S. wheat for more than 40 years but faces competition from domestic production and countries with mostly duty-free access under the Mercosur Agreement, including Argentina.
In 2019, Brazil implemented an annual duty-free tariff rate quota of 750,000 metric tons for wheat imports from countries outside the Mercosur Agreement.
The Ohio Small Grains Marketing Program and Kansas Wheat supported the trade team visit.
