Contact us

AMIS Secretariat
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
00153 Rome, Italy

Tel: (+39) 06 570 53539
Fax: (+39) 06 570 53152
Email: [email protected]

AMIS crops

The initial focus of AMIS is on four grains that are particularly important in international food markets, namely wheat, maize, rice and soybeans. Uniting G20 members (and Spain) plus seven major producers, consumers and exporters of agricultural commodities, AMIS participating countries represent a large share of global production, consumption and trade volumes of those four crops, typically in the range of 80-90 percent.

Wheat

Wheat is one of the first cereals known to have been domesticated. Its origin can be traced back to at least 11,000 years ago in the Nile Delta and Mesopotamia. There are several domesticated wheat varieties, including hybrids, but most often the distinction is made between soft and hard (durum) wheat.

Soft wheat is by far the most important for production. It is used for food preparations, but lower quality supplies are commonly destined to feed and, in recent years, also for the production of bio-ethanol. With much smaller production volumes, hard wheat is largely used as ingredient for producing semolina and pasta. A number of countries grow two wheat crops per year: the winter wheat and spring wheat crops, named after the period of their planting.

Almost half of global wheat production stem from the European Union, China and India. Overall, AMIS countries represent close to 90 percent of the total. AMIS countries are also a main supplier of wheat for international markets, accounting for over 95 percent of global wheat exports (including wheat flour). In comparison, wheat imports are of less importance for AMIS countries.