Canada and USA to sell wheat to Japan

Australia will also sell to Japan

By Diego Flammini, Farms.com

Japan’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Yoshimasa Hayashi is looking to buy a total of 111,131 tonnes of food quality wheat from Canada, the United States and Australia.

Japan is the world’s sixth-largest importer of wheat, is strict about the country’s second most important item after rice.

Here’s how the potential sales would be divided:

The shipments would have different loading and arrival times.

Here are some statistics about agricultural trade between Canada and Japan, and the United States and Japan.

Canada & Japan

• Japan is Canada’s second largest agricultural export market with nearly $3 billion of Canadian agricultural products imported by Japan in 2010.
• Top agricultural exports from Canada to Japan in 2010 included rape/colza seeds, frozen swine cuts, pork, wheat and soybeans.
• In 2008, Canada imported about $53 million of agricultural products from Japan including mandarins and sesame oil.

United States & Japan

• The United States is Japan’s largest agricultural supplier.
• Japan imports about $13.8 billion of American agricultural products annually.
• Leading American agricultural products exported to Japan include pork and pork products, corn, beef and beef products, and wheat.
• The USA imported about $572 million worth of agricultural products from Japan in 2013 including wine and beer, snack foods and other vegetable oils.

Join the conversation and tell us your thoughts about the Japanese demand for international wheat. As a producer of wheat are you encouraged that the demand could rise?