The major railway strike in France, which should last no less than 3 months, is causing chaos in the transport of grain. Pressure on the French grain market is mounting.
With only 2,5 months to go until the end of the season, half of all the grain in the country should already be gone. It's not that far yet. Unions want railway employees to stop working every 5 days for 2 days in protest against reform plans by French President Macron. This has major consequences for the grain market because a lot of transport in France goes by train.
Chaos
The French cooperative Axereal is talking about 3.000 trains per year, which are scheduled 12 to 18 months in advance. This is completely confused and causes tens of millions of euros in damage to the market, according to the French cooperative.
Because the country also has a shortage of no less than 50.000 truck drivers, the sector is afraid that stocks will accumulate. As if that were not enough, not only transport on land causes problems, transport by ship also causes difficulties due to the high water level in the Seine.
European grain market
The competitive position of French grain is not getting any stronger. Especially now that the demand for grains is increasing, the demand cannot be met as a result of these transport problems.
The problems in France also affect the European market. The important French ports, especially Rouen, export a large part of Europe's grains.
The export of European grain is already lagging behind considerably. The European Union is a net exporter of 5,8 million tons of grain in the current season, compared to 16,6 million tons in the same period last year. That grain stocks are accumulating is a risk to grain prices at the end of the season.
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