EU wheat exports down 25%, corn imports up 51%

There was no respite in the EU’s recent poor run of wheat exports, as 160,426 mt of wheat was loaded in the week to April 4, leaving sales 25% down on the same stage last year at 14.5 million mt, data from the European Commission showed Thursday.

For comparison, Russia over the same time period exported 1.19 million mt.

Intra-EU trade and domestic demand has been a factor in keeping some EU exports from the global stage, but forecasts of high carryover stocks suggest demand for European wheat has waned.

European sellers have struggled to keep up with Russia this marketing year, as its neighbour’s massive crop and a strong euro have made third party sales less feasible.

After a strong two months of exports, weekly barley loadings slipped back to 14,333 mt – leaving sales 6% higher than the previous marketing year at 4.4 million mt.

Corn imports, meanwhile, hit 339,837 mt in the week, taking the year’s total to 13.2 million mt – 51% higher than at the same stage last year.

And soybean imports for the week came to 188,247 mt, with total sales down 6% on the 2016/17 marketing year at 9.6 million mt.