HANOI: Vietnam’s market year 2014-15 wheat consumption remained at 2.15 million tonnes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) reported on Jan. 8.
The market year 2015-16 wheat consumption is forecast to remain unchanged due to less demand for feed wheat for the feed industry, which is expecting a more competitive price for corn compared to feed wheat.
The report revises Vietnam’s wheat import volume in the market year 2014-15 slightly up from 2.296 million tonnes to 2.37 million tonnes, an increase of 74,000 tonnes compared to the official number, due to the increase in the use of feed wheat. Imported volume for market year 2015-16 is forecast unchanged at 2.6 million tonnes.
Australian milling wheat remains dominant in the wheat import market in Vietnam, its market share, however, shrank from over 70-80% of Vietnam’s total wheat imported volume in market year 2013-14 to around only 50% in market year 2014-15. Canadian wheat and Brazilian wheat picked up shares from almost nothing in market year 2013-14 to more than 300,000 tonnes from each source in market year 2014-15. The forecast for total wheat imports into Vietnam remains unchanged in the market year 2015-16.
The growth of baked wheat-based products and noodles requires high quality wheat, which possibly favors increased consumption of U.S. wheat, the report said. U.S. wheat is also used by Vietnamese mills for blending as a cost-effective way to improve the quality of their flour products.
The recent year-on-year volume of U.S. wheat exported to Vietnam keeps on increasing – explaining the increase demand of premium quality wheat. However, exports of U.S. wheat into Vietnam which previously was expected to be around 320,000 tonnes in market year 2014-15 has to be revised down to around 260,000 tonnes due to strong price competition from other wheat sources, especially Canadian wheat. The report put the forecast for import of U.S. wheat in market year 2015-16 at 300,000 tonnes.
