Major importing countries of wheat, flour, and products 2014/15-2024/25

This statistic shows the principal importing countries of wheat, wheat flour and wheat products worldwide from 2014/2015 to 2024/2025. In 2024/25, Egypt was forecast to import about 12.5 million metric tons of wheat and wheat-derived products. 

Wheat

Wheat is one the most widely produced grains in the world, leading the grain market along with corn and rice in production and sales. Wheat is an important trade commodity due to its durability, longevity and its use as flour. The importing and exporting of wheat and wheat products is a complex worldwide business.

As one of the leading wheat importers worldwide, Egypt exercises significant power over the import/export market. Egyptian wheat supplies are not glutinous enough to produce bread, a staple of the Egyptian diet. Local stocks are mixed with imported wheat to achieve acceptable flour. The country hopes to decrease their dependence on wheat imports in years to come.

The United States is one the world’s chief exporters of wheat. As an industry, large-scale grain import and export really took off following the immigration of Europeans to the Americas. The vast, unpopulated prairies provided an ideal environment for establishing large-scale commercial farms capable of producing grains on a level unimaginable to the smaller farms of Europe. The American Great Plains, comprised of Midwestern states such as Oklahoma, Kansas, and the Dakotas, among others, is known as America’s “Breadbasket” or “Grain Belt” due to the high production of grain crops in this region.