February 18, 2008

EU net grain imports hold near steady on week at 7.6 million tonnes

European Union licenses to import grain were 7.61 million tonnes more than those to export as of February 12, some 33 weeks into the 2007-08 marketing year, EU data showed Friday (February 15).

The total is down slightly from the 7.69-million-tonne difference as of February 5, but is in sharp contrast to the same time last year, when the EU was a net grain exporter of 3.4 million tonnes.

Corn and sorghum import licenses rose on the week, but that was partially offset by a rise in licenses to export soft wheat.

Over the season, corn and sorghum led the growth in EU imports, following domestic crop-production problems, high feed wheat prices, and as grain intervention supplies are now nearly used up.

Total EU licenses to import corn came to 9.0 million tonnes as of Feb. 12, up from 8.8 million tonnes a week earlier and up from 3.4 million tonnes at the same date last year.

Licenses to import sorghum totalled 3.7 million tonnes as of February 12, up from 3.6 million tonnes a week earlier, and up from just 501,000 tonnes for the same week a year earlier.

Meanwhile, soft wheat export licenses rose to 4.1 million tonnes by week's end, up from 3.9 million a week earlier, but still lagging the same date last season when export licenses tallied 6.1 million tonnes.