EU wheat exports mostly gloomy with some bright spells

Wheat exports volumes from the EU continue to lag previous marketing years, with disappointing sales down 21% on last year, data from the European Commission showed Thursday.

After last week’s uptick in volumes leaving, sales in the week to November 28 again dropped off, falling to 295,243 mt. Export volumes for the marketing year from July 1 are now 21% lower than at the same stage last year, totalling 8.48 million mt.

The headline figures mask several different stories playing out across the continent.

Baltic sales kept up their strong start to the marketing year, taking advantage of their discounted price at the global stage. Latvian exports of 929,034 mt are four times higher than in 2016/17 and are twice the average of the three previous marketing years.

Lithuania has been slightly less impressive in comparison. Sales of 867,865 mt, are 37% higher than in the 2016/17, but are 14% lower than the average of the past three marketing years.

French sellers exported 140,080 mt of wheat in the week, taking their total sales for the year to 2.59 million mt. While lambasted by some quarters, at the same stage last year, they had only sold 2.03 million mt. However, this year’s total remains 10% below the average of the past three marketing years.

German sales continued to dwindle, meanwhile, as sellers struggle to tempt material on to the export market with domestic demand strong and low global prices. A mere 2,523 mt of export licenses were issued in the week, the third lowest weekly total since the start of the 2014/15 marketing year.

After a strong start to 2017/18, Romanian exports now lag previous years, with no recorded sales in the week. Total exports for the 2017/18 marketing year stand at 2.25 million mt, 32% lower than at the same stage last year. Sales in neighbouring Bulgaria are down 58% on year 322,330 mt, with sellers unable to compete with the low-cost competition Russia’s massive crop.

Corn import volumes, meanwhile, continue to surge ahead of last year as buyers take advantage of high global supply and low prices.

Importers bought 286,414 mt of corn in the week, taking total volumes for the 2017/18 marketing year to 5.84 million mt – up 59% on the same stage last year.