U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) contributes success stories to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) to demonstrate the return on investment of market development programs, supporting continued federal funding for programs that identify, build and maintain international demand for all six classes of U.S. wheat.
Nigeria is the largest buyer of U.S. wheat in Sub-Saharan Africa and the 10th-largest wheat importer worldwide. To maintain market share in this substantial but price-sensitive market, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) works with Nigeria’s major milling groups to emphasize the quality and value of U.S. wheat classes.
In November 2025, USW conducted a crop quality seminar with the four major Nigerian milling companies. This was the third year that USW conducted a crop quality seminar in this format in the region. Previously, USW conducted individual in-person crop quality meetings with each company.
Approximately 50 participants attended the seminar, which was funded by the Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP). The seminar was designed to improve buyers’ understanding of U.S. wheat quality, supply and market conditions, and to support informed purchasing decisions and buyer satisfaction.
The seminar included quality information from the 2025 wheat harvest and covered U.S. hard red winter (HRW), hard white (HW), hard red spring (HRS), soft red winter (SRW) and durum. Presenters included experts on each U.S. wheat class and USW regional staff.
Crop quality seminars directly address customer satisfaction with the U.S. wheat marketing system by providing extensive information on U.S. wheat quality for the current year’s harvest. This information allows buyers to adjust contract specifications and plan purchases based on supply and quality factors. In turn, this increases buyer satisfaction with the quality and value received from U.S. wheat purchases.
Based on the quality, supply and price information learned during the crop quality seminar, one of the mills purchased a consignment of U.S. HRW and SRW in November 2025, including 19,700 metric tons (MT) (724,000 bushels) of HRW and 13,600 MT (500,000 bushels) of SRW wheat.
USW reinforced these purchases with technical service activities to help Nigerian millers maximize value from U.S. wheat, provided technical assistance for laboratory analysis, and instilled continuity and confidence in U.S. wheat purchases.