Wheat Flour

Figure 11: Kazakhstani wheat flour exports (thousand tons)
2,000
1,800
1,767.1
1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
931.9
1,122.4
1,454.3
800
600
400
200
170.9
298.0
483.5
532.3
0
2001
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Source: IAOM
The EU-27, the second largest exporter, recently exported about 1.25 million
tons of flour in wheat grain equivalent. It is worth noting that European flour
exports peaked in 1996/1997, reaching 6.3 million tons in grain equivalent.
Today, European flour holds a 13% share of the world market compared with
a 65% share in 1996/1997.
Turkey, the third largest flour exporter, traditionally exports between 1.0 and
1.3 million tons of flour in grain equivalent annually. It is worth noting that
while being one of the world’s leading flour exporters, Turkey imports wheat
on a regular basis. This is largely due to government policies promoting wheat
imports and processing, and wheat flour exports.
The undisputed leaders among flour importers are Brazil and Libya (Figure 12).
Each country buys about 1 million tons of flour annually. Uzbekistan, Tajikistan
and Afghanistan are also major flour importers. Iraq has been trying to reduce
its flour imports. According to data by the International Grains Council (IGC),
in 2008/2009 Iraq imported 500,000 tons of flour in grain equivalent compared
with 600,000 tons the previous year and with 1.5 million tons in 2005/2006.
31