EU weekly wheat exports fall to new low, down 23% on year

EU-wide exports of wheat fell to their lowest level of the marketing year as sellers continue to struggle on the international stage due to strong competition and an uncompetitive euro, data from the European Commission released Thursday showed.

Only 107,942 mt of wheat was loaded in the week to March 21, taking the 2017/18 marketing year to 14.1 million mt – 23% less than last year.

It was the second-lowest week of exports seen in the last three marketing years with the only week lower seen at the tail end of 2016/17 when supplies dwindled ahead of the new crop coming to market.

Again, only French exports were of note as 96,787 mt was loaded to take the marketing year total to 5.15 million mt.

Algeria has been the primary destination for EU wheat this year with 17.7% of the share, followed by Saudi Arabia with 13.9%, and Egypt with 6.4%.

Corn imports dropped to almost half the previous week’s figure at 250,649 mt, although imports of 12.3 million mt remain 52% above last year.

The bulk of corn has been imported from Ukraine which has taken 57.6% of the share, followed by Brazil with 10.5%, and Canada with 7.4%.

Weekly soybean imports of 184,843 mt took the marketing year total to 9.2 million mt, 5% lower than at the same stage last year.

US soybeans have accounted for the largest share of those imports with 39.5%, followed by Brazil with 27.9% and Canada with 12.8%.