PARIS: French soft wheat exports outside the European Union are set to more than double in 2017/18 from last season when they plummeted following a poor harvest, farm office FranceAgriMer said. In its first supply-and-demand outlook for the 2017/18 July-June season, the office estimated France’s non-EU soft wheat exports in 2017/18 at 10.2 million tonnes, up from 5.0 million in 2016/17 but still lower than the previous three seasons.
French soft wheat shipments within the 28-member bloc should rise 25 percent to 7.85 million tonnes, Wednesday’s data showed. That was well above the average of the previous three seasons, but below market estimates of at least 8 million tonnes. France, the EU’s largest wheat producer, harvested a good quality crop this season and is expected to benefit from a drop in quality in Germany and the Baltic states.
FranceAgriMer forecast French soft wheat stocks at the end of this season will rise to 3.4 million tonnes, from 2.9 million at the end of last season. Barley ending stocks were estimated nearly unchanged at 1.05 million tonnes compared to 1.07 million at the end of June. For maize, FranceAgriMer pegged ending stocks this season at 2.5 million tonnes, up from 1.95 million last season, mainly due to a larger crop.
