World Grain - June 2015 - 100

FEATURE: TEAM APPROACH TO MARKETING CANADIAN GRAINS

Nisshin's Koji Murakami shared his company's
experience with Canadian wheat during the
Canadian Global Crops Symposium this April in
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Photo by
Susan Reidy.

can't take that for granted. We have to
continue to assure that the Canadian
quality and the Canadian brand is maintained going forward," Dahl said.
Cigi and Cereals Canada have
tions," Dahl said. "The answers were launched a comprehensive market scan
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assessment, not someone who was try- June, Dahl said.
ing to sell them something."
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for Team Canada, and the results will
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guide ongoing outreach.
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has largely evaporated and customers value chain supports our customers
around the world are comfortable in how abroad is something that is valuable and
Canadian wheat is brought to the market, has helped support the Canadian marDahl said. The Canadian wheat brand ket," he said.
continues to attract customer loyalty.
We want to hear from you - Send comments and
"Quality is still king and Canada oc- inquiries to worldgrain@sosland.com. For reprints of
WG articles, e-mail reprints@sosland.com.
cupies that niche market. However, we

Canadian wheat customers share their experiences
Two major customers shared their experiences with Canadian wheat during the Canadian Global Crops Symposium this
April, saying they appreciated the high quality product, but also
noting problems with gluten properties in the last several years.
Japan consumes about 5.7 million tonnes of wheat per
year, said Koji Murakami, manager, quality control & assurance
group, Nisshin Flour Milling, Inc. It imports about 1.2 million
tonnes of CWRS and 200,000 tonnes of durum.
Since 2009, Murakami said the gluten quality of CWRS has
drastically changed in terms of strength and extensibility. This
means the bread-making properties have also deteriorated.
"Many bread-making companies have had difficulty managing
their manufacturing process because of the increased water absorption and deterioration of mixing tolerance," Murakami said.
He attributed the change to environmental factors as well
as the variety of CWRS Canadian farmers are growing. Gluten
quality was slightly improved in 2014, but needs further improvement, Murakami said.
Nisshin has discussed the issue with the Canadian Grains
Commission (CGC) every year. Starting in 2013, CGC added
an extensograph test to variety registration trials and in 2014,
added a test for gluten strength.
"With this change, we expect new varieties released in the
future to have excellent mixing tolerance and extensibility,"
Murakami said.
Lei Sang, deputy general manager, wheat division, COFCO
Trading Ltd., echoed Murakami's statements on gluten quality.
COFCO is a major importer of wheat with about 60% of the
market share the last six years. It is one of the top three millers
in the country with a capacity of 3.5 million tonnes.
COFCO has been importing wheat from Canada since 1960,
100

for a total of 114 million tonnes. It exclusively imported CWRS
from 1977-2003. The wheat variety had an excellent reputation
for consistent and excellent performance, and was given first
priority for high-quality bread, Sang said.
But for some Chinese millers the usage of CWRS is moving
from high-end bread to noodles and dumplings because of the
quality problems. While Sang said the quality of the 2014 crop
is the best since 2011, more improvement is needed.
"Millers would like to see more efforts and more positive
results," Sang said.
The perfect CWRS has good functionality, high baking scores,
and consistent quality with little variation year over year. Sang
said COFCO would like to see an improvement of the CWRS
seed varieties with strong gluten. China's market is short of
high-gluten varieties, and CWRS should fill that need, he said.
"We hope the industry rebuilds CWRS and continues to improve the seed varieties," Sang said.
Sang outlined other hopes he has for the Canadian wheat
industry, including the expanded flexibility of trade with more
container exports. The demand for containerized CWRS has
grown fast because it is more flexible and convenient. It is a
good solution for millers who demand special high protein
CWRS, Sang said.
Additionally, increased cargo readiness efficiency is needed,
he said. Winter is a tough time for Canadian grain cargo readiness, Sang said, but it is also the busiest season for wheat processing in China because of the large amount of flour needed
for spring festivals in January and February.
Sang also suggested promoting pre- and post-shipment
service by introducing more client training and technical exchange programs.
June 2015 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - June 2015

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