PARIS: France hiked its forecast for carryout wheat inventories to by far the highest in at least a decade as it cut hopes for exports, ditching expectations of shipments outside the European Union beating year-ago levels.
The official FranceAgriMer crop bureau raised by 563,000 tonnes to 5.78m tonnes its forecast for disposable wheat inventories in the EU’s top wheat producer, and exporter, of the grain as of the close of 2015-16.
The upgrade leaves the country looking at historically-elevated inventories, well ahead of the recent high of 3.45m tonnes set in 2008-09.
And it reflected the weaker expectations for exports, with France struggling to find homes amid touch global competition for its large supplies, which were boosted by a record 40.96m-tonne harvest last year.
