Global wheat consumption is headed for its biggest annual decline in decades as record inflation forces consumers and companies to use less and replace the grain with cheaper alternatives, amid growing food insecurity.
Consumers may face even higher wheat prices in the second half of 2022 as importers, who until now have supplied cargoes bought several months earlier at cheaper prices, pass on the costs from when wheat prices scaled decade highs in May.
Global wheat consumption in July to December could drop by 5% to 8% from a year ago, analysts, traders and millers say, much faster than the U.S. Department of Agriculture's forecast 1% contraction.