U.S. Wheat Trade
Exports are crucial for the U.S. wheat industry, with exports averaging nearly half of total use during the 1990s. During the 1990s, wheat and wheat flour accounted for over 9 percent of all U.S. agricultural exports by value, indicating the importance of wheat exports to the U.S. economy.
Since 1975/76 (the international trade year is July-June), U.S. wheat exports have fluctuated sharply, reaching a high of over 48 million metric tons in 1981/82 and dropping to less than 23 million in 2002/03. In 1981, the U.S. share of global exports peaked at about 45 percent. Over the last 10 years, U.S. wheat exports have exceeded 30 million metric tons only twice, and the U.S. share of global exports has fluctuated between 25 and 30 percent since 1990. Increased planting flexibility in U.S. farm legislation and low returns relative to some competing crops has led to a decline in U.S. wheat area, limiting export potential.
U.S. imports of wheat grain, coming mostly from Canada, are small compared
with exports. Imports of wheat products consist mainly of pasta and noodles
from the European Union (EU), Canada, and Asia. Historical information on U.S.
imports and exports is available from USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service
(FAS) at U.S.
Trade Internet System.
Details on projected U.S. wheat exports are in USDA's Agricultural Baseline Projections, which provides 10-year projections for the U.S. and world agricultural sectors for selected commodities.
World Wheat Trade
The United States is the world's leading wheat exporter. In most years, the United States, Canada, Australia, the EU-25, and Argentina account for about 80 percent of world wheat exports.
The diversity of exporting countries provides significant stability to world wheat trade and prices. Most of the world’s wheat production is grown as winter wheat in the Northern Hemisphere, but Canada, Kazakhstan, Russia, and the United States have large spring wheat production, which is planted much later. Moreover, Australia and Argentina, in the Southern Hemisphere, plant after the Northern Hemisphere’s spring wheat. With wheat being planted and harvested at different times, when a production shortfall occurs in one region, other countries can respond quickly to increased prices.
World wheat trade peaked in 1987/88 at 114 million metric tons, when both China and the Soviet Union were importing very large amounts. Imports by Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and China have been much lower since then, and world wheat trade has not matched those record levels despite significant growth in imports by developing countries. In 2003, the EU established effective barriers to lower quality wheat imports, also limiting world wheat trade.
While wheat exports are dominated by a handful of nations, many countries import large amounts of wheat. While the EU-25, Japan, and South Korea are among the largest wheat importers, most imports are by developing countries with limited production potential. Population growth in Egypt, Brazil, Algeria, Indonesia, Iraq, Nigeria, Mexico, and other developing countries importing smaller amounts of wheat will be crucial to future expansion of world wheat trade.
Data on world wheat production, supply,
and distribution (PS&D) are available from FAS for more than 200 countries back to 1960. More in-depth commodity trade information is available in ERS’s trade
outlook reports and FAS’s Grain
Circular. Current world wheat trade data are available in the World
Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE).
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