Rouen's weekly wheat exports dip to 100k mt

Activity at France's main grain export hub of Rouen slowed once again, with only 100,561 mt of wheat loaded in the week to January 25, down 33% on the week, data from French port operator Haropa showed.

During the reporting week, wheat volumes from Rouen reached 100,561 mt, including 31,500 mt headed to Algeria, 31,061 mt to Mauritania and 27,000 mt to Morocco, while 5,400 mt went to Cameroon and 5,600 mt to Gabon.

Alongside that, 150,343 mt of feed barley was shipped over the week, with the lion's share going to China (146,542 mt) and a small volume going to the UK (3,801 mt).

In addition, 11,750 mt of malt barley was shipped, including 7,350 mt headed to the Netherlands and another 4,400 mt cargo shipped to Spain. 

Separately, data from the French Atlantic port of La Pallice showed that 33,700 mt of wheat was scheduled for shipment, mainly to the Ivory Coast (28,650 mt) and to Spain (5,050 mt), along with 81,728 mt of feed barley headed to China.

France exported 7.6 million mt of wheat to countries outside the European Union between the start of the marketing year on July 1 and January 22, according to delayed data from the European Commission.

French exports of soft wheat were 50% more than last year's figure and the 3-year average.

Agriculture agency FranceAgriMer expects the country to export 10.6 million mt of wheat outside the EU (up 21% year-on-year) and 6.64 million mt to other EU member states (down 17% year-on-year) through the current marketing year.

The Commission collects customs data from EU countries, which may lag behind port data.