The world knocks on Western Canada’s doors to get hard red spring wheat and durum, but it would also like to get lower quality wheat.
That was a shared view of buyers from Colombia and Dubai, who recently visited the Canadian International Grains Institute.
“If the wheat varieties are available, that would be ideal for us,” said Udaya Bhaskar of Dubai’s giant Al Ghurair Foods. “It would minimize the logistics.”
Alexandra Asmar Lopez, a commodity manager with Servicios Nutresa of Colombia, said her diversified food products company would also like to buy a wider range of cereal grains from Canada.
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“We would really like to have Canadian wheat to produce cookies and crackers,” said Lopez.
“We would like to have a bigger quantity to import of the soft wheat.”
Canada’s fame for high protein and high quality hard red spring wheat and durum allows marketers to make sales at premium prices, which means it’s generally a trade that farmers, grain marketers and food companies are happy to transact.
Major overseas buyers often want big loads of a single commodity. They mix and blend in their own facilities and don’t mind keeping lots in storage.
However, Bhaskar said his company tries to maximize efficiency and reduce storage, so bringing in various types of wheat from multiple sources creates challenges. It doesn’t want to keep more than it needs in its 300,000 tonne facility, which means it requires the right mix to arrive just in time for production.
It often has to buy some wheat and durum from Canada and then other wheat from elsewhere. This creates headaches because the company doesn’t always want an entire Panamax load of spring wheat and durum and must find partners who will share an ocean vessel.
Bhaskar said life would be easier if Canada could provide all the different types of wheat and durum that his company wants.
“The vessel has to balance,” he said.
“The quantities have to balance (to be efficient) because we don’t want to have more inventories. We want to have lower inventories.”
Lopez said her company is a big fan of Canadian wheat and durum but has trouble balancing its requirements from Canada with those from elsewhere.
“We have been asking for the last three or four years, every year, every crop, but you don’t have soft wheat to export,” said Lopez.
“We need soft wheat.”
The Prairies are unlikely to grow much soft red winter wheat unless plant breeders create radically new varieties. However, hard red winter wheat is becoming more popular on the Prairies, and many speculate the trend will intensify in the post-CWB monopoly era.
Having a wider spectrum of wheat types available could further raise Canada’s reputation as a preferred source of grain for some buyers.
