OSLO: The European Union granted export licences for 991,000 tonnes of soft wheat this week, but the big weekly volume, the third-largest this season, was partly inflated by a data correction, the European Commission said on Thursday.
The correction came after a member country previously declared some export certificates as durum wheat instead of soft wheat, an official said.
The EU’s export licence figures are tracked by grain markets as an indication of overseas demand. Soft wheat is the most produced cereal in the 28-country bloc while durum is a niche crop.
Despite the data revision, the cumulative total of 19.4 million tonnes of soft wheat licences awarded since the start of the 2015/16 season on July 1 was down 16 percent compared with the same date in 2014/15, the Commission’s data showed.
The revision meant that the total of durum export licences so far this season were reduced by 266,000 tonnes from last week to 706,000 tonnes, now down 9 percent from a year ago.
The EU also awarded this week licences to export 185,000 tonnes of barley, bringing the total this season to 7.5 million tonnes, up 15 percent compared with the year-earlier volume.
In imports, the EU awarded licences for 229,000 tonnes of maize, taking the volume so far this season to 9.9 million tonnes, up 53 percent compared with the same stage last season.
