Philippine flour millers went to America that is their largest partner in wheat supply in order to discuss wheat quality.   A trade team including the director of the Philippine Association of Flour Millers (PAFMIL) and key decision makers at three of the leading flour mills in the Philippines went to North Dakota on October 23-24 to learn more about this year’s hard red spring wheat crop and visited with public and private wheat breeding companies. The Philippines has been an important U.S. spring wheat customer for more than fifty years, increasing annual wheat purchases from 7 million bushels in 1961 when U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) opened its office in Manila, to nearly 74 million bushels and a U.S. market share that exceeded 90 percent of milling wheat imports in 2012-13. The majority of their wheat purchases are hard red spring and white wheat. “The Philippine market is important for North Dakota producers,” says Francis Leiphon, NDWC Chairman, “They are our second largest spring wheat market with average annual purchases of 35 million bushels.” Along with learning about crop quality, the team learned about supply and demand factors affecting availability and price of U.S. spring wheat and gained a better understanding of wheat transportation logistics and contracting.