PARIS: French soft wheat exports outside the European Union continued to accelerate in April to reach 1.5 million tonnes, the highest monthly volume since the start of the 2015/16 season last July, customs data showed on Tuesday.
The monthly exports took the total since the beginning of 2015/16 to 9.7 million tonnes, up 2 percent from the July-April period last season.
French soft wheat exports outside the EU in April included 676,000 tonnes to Morocco where a drought severely damaged crops, bringing total shipments to the North African country in the first 10 months of the season to 1.9 million tonnes, up 59 percent on last season.
France, the EU’s largest wheat exporter, also shipped 329,000 tonnes of soft wheat to Algeria, 189,000 tonnes to Egypt and 58,000 tonnes to Yemen.
Total soft wheat exports, including shipments within the EU, reached 2.3 million tonnes in April, taking the total this season to 16.0 million tonnes, down 1 percent on the year-earlier period.
Morocco also boosted demand for French barley in April with exports totaling nearly 204,000 tonnes.
Total French barley exports outside the EU stood at 306,000 tonnes.
