First Bulk Grain Vessel Docked in Myanmar Carries U.S. Wheat
Many years of work conducting trade service and technical support in South Asian countries like Myanmar (Burma) showed U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) there was a growing opportunity to compete with nearby Australian wheat supplies. Knowing two deep-water ports were opening in Myanmar in 2019, USW intensified its activities. In mid-May 2019, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service representatives were on hand to welcome the first bulk grain vessel to dock at one of the ports loaded with 22,000 metric tons (MT) of high-quality U.S. hard red spring (HRS) wheat purchased by a local flour mill.
With funding from the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) program, USW has provided technical and trade servicing to mills and bakeries in Myanmar for more than 20 years. With the ability only to take container loads, U.S. wheat had to compete with less expensive supplies shipped mainly from nearly Australia. Still, its political situation was changing and consumer purchasing power was growing.
To lay the groundwork for U.S. wheat bulk shipments to customers in Myanmar, USW hosted a workshop on FGIS inspection and certification in marketing year 2017/18 for three milling companies and government officials. USW separately brought in a private trading company and the FAS staff in Yangon to brief the Myanmar Plant Protection Department about the bulk U.S. wheat export supply system. The briefing provided information that helped increase the confidence in purchasing and handling U.S. bulk wheat shipments.
The vessel New Journey carrying 22,000 metric tons of U.S. HRS at berth in Thilawa port at Yangon, Myanmar, May 2019.
Technical training continued with seven individuals from Myanmar baking companies who participated at their companies’ expense in three USW-sponsored baking courses at the UFM Baking School in Bangkok, Thailand, between May and July 2018. In a survey about their participation, these customers said they planned to demand flour produced from U.S. HRS wheat in their processing plants. And in December 2018, USW Bakery Consultant Roy Chung made a technical service call on a milling and wheat food processor in Myanmar to provide additional information on the potential value in milling U.S. HRS for bread flour and blending for other products.
In 2019/20, USW will apply funding from the FMD program to bring purchasing managers from selected Myanmar flour mills to the United States for a course called “Contracting for Value.” Participation will help the milling executives quantify the economic value of U.S. wheat classes and will help them understand possible adjustments in contract specifications to enhance that value.
Myanmar-based customers are embracing the benefits of working with imported U.S. wheat. Exports of HRS and soft white (SW) wheat to Myanmar grew from 26,300 MT in 2017/18 to about 65,000 MT in 2018/19. USW will continue to provide valuable trade and technical support there and throughout the growing wheat markets in South Asia.
*Header Photo Caption: Myanmar International Terminal Thilawa (MITT)
