Indonesia signs MOU, pledges to double US wheat purchases over 2026-2030

The Indonesian Flour Producers Association, or APTINDO, on July 7 signed a memorandum of understanding with US Wheat Associates, committing to buy 1 million mt/year of US wheat between 2026 and 2030, according to US Wheat Associates and market sources.

Joseph Sowers, regional vice president of the South and Southeast Asian markets for US Wheat Associates, said the MOU marked “a major milestone for the Indonesian milling industry and US wheat producers.

It said that under the agreement, APTINDO had committed to doubling its annual purchases of US wheat over the next five years.

In the past decade, Indonesia’s annual imports of US wheat historically averaged just under 1 million mt up to 2020, but after that, imports dropped sharply, with annual import volumes between 2021 and 2024 averaging 481,023 mt, according to import data from Indonesia’s Bureau of Statistics.

The MOU, as seen by S&P Global Commodity Insights, added that “due to timing considerations,” APTINDO will purchase a minimum of 800,000 mt of US origin milling wheat for the remainder of the calendar year.

The US milling wheat sales will be conducted through private tenders.

APTINDO has not yet released a statement to millers on how the wheat volumes might be split between its members, according to industry sources.

The association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Various news reports said that Indonesia would increase its imports of US wheat as part of tariff negotiations with the US. The US had earlier announced a 32% tariff on Indonesian exports, set to kick in Aug. 1 after a 90-day pause in implementation was further delayed.

A Jakarta-based flour miller noted that depending on the purchase volumes required by each member of APTINDO, millers might replace some of their demand for other origins of wheat to increase the ratio of US milling wheat in their formulations. “US wheat can only replace our soft and hard wheat demand, maybe around 50% [of our demand],” added the same source.

Tags: Indonesia, wheat, USA