The US expects to capture 25 percent of the wheat market in the Middle East and North Africa in the marketing year 2008/9, a US Wheat Associates official said on Sunday.
The US exported about 8.3 million tonnnes to the region in 2007/8, Vincent Peterson, vice president of overseas operations at US Wheat Associates, said, adding that this amounted to about a quarter of the market.
“This year it is a fairly similar percentage overall although we are lower in certain countries,” he said on the sidelines of a regional conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt.
The US wheat marketing year ends on May 31.
The US share of the market has been declining in recent years due to significantly cheaper imports from the Black Sea.
But Peterson said a 25 percent share was adequate.
“If we can maintain this in the Middle East, that’s a fairly good average for us,” he said.
US wheat sales to Egypt, which is forecast to import about eight million tonnes of wheat this year, have been hit by the cheaper wheat and freight prices from Black Sea countries, especially Russia.
“This year our business to Egypt was lower than usual due to the excessive competition from the Black Sea,” Peterson said.
“Still we exported around two million tonnes so far in 2008/9, in an eight million tonne market, so that’s not so bad,” he said. (Reuters)
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