January 5, 2012

EU soft wheat export permits climb 136,000 tonnes

For the week ended December 27, EU licenses to export soft wheat have risen to 136,000 tonnes, EU data showed Wednesday (Jan 4).

This takes total EU wheat exports, 26 weeks into the 2011-12 marketing year, to 7.26 million tonnes, down 35% from 11.13 million tonnes over the same period the previous year.

EU wheat exports have faced fierce competition from the Black Sea region recently, with supply from the southern hemisphere, especially Australia and Argentina, also arriving on the international market and stirring competition.

Of this week's total, France claimed the largest share of export licenses with 65,684 tonnes, ahead of Germany with 65,500 tonnes. Hungary was the only other nation to register a sizeable figure with 4,716 tonnes.

The EU also granted licenses to export 34,386 tonnes of corn, bringing the total this season to 1.69 million tonnes.

Romania accounted for almost all of this week's total of corn export licenses with 34,150 tonnes, followed by Hungary with 236 tonnes.

EU total grain exports increased 254,000 tonnes on the week to 12.56 million tonnes for the year so far, compared with 15.90 million tonnes over the same period the previous year.

EU wheat imports, 26 weeks into the marketing year, increased by 18,000 tonnes to 2.87 million tonnes, compared with 1.32 million tonnes over the same period the previous year.

Total grain imports to date are 6.36 million tonnes compared with 6.01 million tonnes in the previous year.