The United States has reached a situation where it is forced to import wheat from Europe after a drought affected crops, raising prices on the local market, Bloomberg reported, citing Agerpers.

At least two ships loaded with wheat from Poland have arrived in Florida this year, and more shipments are expected in the coming months, according to sources close to the file who spoke on condition of anonymity. At the same time, sources said that the agricultural products trader Andersons Inc. shipped wheat from Poland to the Ardent Mills flour mill in Tampa, Florida.

This rare wheat import is a blow to the United States, which in recent decades has lost its importance in the world wheat market in favor of Russia, which is now the world’s largest exporter.

Last year’s drought affected grain transportation on the Mississippi River, making it more expensive to ship grain by rail. Bad weather also means a record number of U.S. farmers could stop growing wheat, making imports more profitable.

“It’s an unusual trade route, but it makes sense because American wheat is expensive,” said Miroslav Marciniak, an analyst at InfoGrain in Warsaw.

“It’s cheaper for American processors on the East Coast to ship grain from Europe than from Kansas,” says Myroslav Marciniak.

Problems with harvesting wheat in the USA

American winter wheat, the variety used to make bread, sells at a significant premium to wheat offered by other major global exporters. At the same time, some Eastern European countries are faced with a surplus of wheat, which recently led to the introduction of restrictions on the import of wheat from Ukraine.

Andersons managing director Pat Bowe says importing from Europe makes sense given the price difference, but declined to comment on whether the firm he runs has done such deals.

Figures provided by the European Union show that Poland has already exported around 79,000 tonnes of wheat to the US in the 2022-23 season. It’s possible we’ll see more of these shipments from the Baltics to the US in the future, given the price difference, Marciniak said.

Several years of drought on the US plains have affected America’s famous wheat fields. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that U.S. farmers will harvest just 67 percent of their wheat acreage this year, the lowest since 1917.