Colombian Wheat Trade Mission Visits Colorado
July 30, 2004
The Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee (CWAC) hosted a delegation of Colombian wheat importers in Colorado July 14-18, to familiarize team members with the supply and quality of the 2004 winter wheat crop.
Colombia was the twelfth largest customer of U.S. wheat (and the eighth largest customer of Hard Red Winter wheat) in the 2003-04 marketing year with imports of 817,000 tons (30 million bushels).
Colombia is the fourth largest country in South America with a population of approximately 39 million people. Consumption of wheat in Colombia is approximately 1.1 million metric tons (MMT/40.4 million bushels) per year, while domestic wheat production has fallen from 105,000 metric tons (3.9 million bushels) in the late 1980's to approximately 30,000 metric tons (1.1 million bushels) in recent years. With domestic crop production expected to remain at this level, growth in consumption is dependent upon imports.
The Colombian Wheat Trade Mission included four executives responsible for importing wheat for their respective mills and for other mills and a representative of U.S. Wheat Associates (USWA)/Santiago. The team members represented 80 percent of total Colombian wheat imports.
While in Colorado, the Colombian Wheat Trade Mission toured the Cargill unit train loading facility in Byers, the Trace Turecek wheat farm located near Byers, ConAgra Flour Milling Company in Commerce City, Rocky Mountain Milling Company in Platteville and Gerard's Bakery in Longmont Briefings were conducted by CoBank of Englewood concerning the GSM credit guarantee program and by CWAC regarding the current wheat market situation and the quantity and quality of the 2004 winter wheat crop.
The sponsorship of foreign trade teams is a cooperative effort between CWAC and USWA to expand export markets for Colorado and U.S. produced wheat. CWAC is a member state organization of USWA, the export market development organization representing Colorado and U.S. wheat producers.