French wheat shipments resume led by Chinese demand

Weekly grain shipments picked up in Rouen through the week ending December 15, driven by an increase in wheat loadings while barley loadings dropped, data from port operator Haropa showed Thursday.

During the week, the volume of wheat departing from France increased almost doubled to 142,500 mt - the highest figure since mid-October.

China was again the leading receiver in the reporting week (96,100 mt or 67% of share), followed by Morocco (32,999 mt) and Gabon (13,400 mt).

Accumulated milling wheat exports throughout the 2021/22 marketing year, which started July 1 and now runs up to December 15, stand at 2.2 million mt.

Algeria (799,500 mt or 39%) was the leading destination followed by China (600,000 mt or 27%), and Morocco (177,000 mt or 8%).

On the other side, however, barley exports continued to fall week-on-week and reached almost zero, as only one vessel left the port heading to the Netherlands (3,000 mt).

Accumulated barley exports throughout the 2021/22 marketing year stand at 1.5 million mt.

The busiest destinations were China (1.2 million mt or 82%), Mexico (61,500 mt or 4%), Colombia (60,000 mt or 4%).

French wheat exports between July 1 to December 6 climbed to almost 2.9 million mt, versus 3.1 million mt departing during the same period of 2020, according to European Commission data. 

French barley exports reached 1.9 million mt, compared to 1.4 million mt for the same period last year.