The export of common wheat from France to countries outside the European Union fell to its lowest point in 11 years in September. The cause seems to lie in the lower harvest forecasts.
France exported 166.000 tons of soft wheat to countries outside the European Union in September. That is the smallest monthly volume since the 2009/2010 season, when Refinitiv started tracking the figures. Strikingly, Algeria, the country that is usually France's largest market, received no shipments at all in September. Cuba was the largest importer of French soft wheat (outside the European Union), importing 44.000 tons. However, this is in stark contrast to the largest importer in August: China. This country imported 255.000 tons of soft wheat from France in that month.
Harvest forecast lowered
The reason for the sharp decline in exports is the lower harvest forecast. Where government agency Rough Earlier this year, the forecast was for approximately 31 million tons of soft wheat, but that forecast was lowered to 29,7 million tons in mid-August. This would make the yield more than 25% lower than last season. These lower expectations caused FranceAgriMer to lower its forecast for French soft wheat exports (to destinations outside the European Union) to approximately 6,6 million tonnes. Last season this export figure was a record 13,5 million tons.
The low soft wheat exports are somewhat compensated by the higher exports of barley. Barley exports in September included 173.000 tonnes of feed barley and 178.000 tonnes of malting barley, with China accounting for all feed barley shipments. However, it was not enough to bring total French grain exports to a higher level. Exports in September amounted to 717.000 tons, which is the lowest level in 4 years for the month of September.