China team gets hands-on look at U.S. wheat

China team gets hands-on look at U.S. wheat

Published 3:00 pm Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Representatives from private Chinese flour mills and food manufacturers recently took a short course at the Wheat Marketing Center to learn how to use U.S. wheat in their “trendy” baking products.

The team baked Western-style breads, including clover dinner rolls, ciabatta, bagels, focaccia, toast bread and sponge cakes — in high demand at hotels and restaurants that cater to international travelers, according to U.S. Wheat Associates.

“U.S. Wheat is optimistic for Chinese purchases in the coming year,” said Dalton Henry, vice president of policy. “However, as we often see, the level of Chinese government involvement in their wheat market often complicates that outlook.”

U.S. Wheat staff will remain in contact with course participants as they return to their companies and put the knowledge they gained in the course to work, Henry said.

Wheat functionality

The end products team showcases the wide range of wheat functionality that can be purchased from the U.S. and used in a “similarly wide range” of consumer products, Henry said.

The course provides a hands-on demonstration of the use of U.S. wheats, in their individual classes and as blends with other U.S. classes to hit the “perfect functionality” for their desired products.

“Whatever end product they are working on or attribute they are aiming for, the U.S. has an option to meet their needs,” Henry said.

One key takeaway from the course is that U.S. soft wheat is “ideal” for sponge cakes, said Ralph Loos, U.S. Wheat director of multimedia and global outreach communications. Hard red spring is “excellent” for producing bagels and improving medium-protein wheat in bread production, Loos added.

U.S. Wheat will follow up the course with in-plant visits to further encourage adoption of the products, Loos said.