May 13, 2009
North African demand for French wheat to fall in 2009-10
France faces a challenging year for wheat exports in 2009-10 due to a likely fall in demand from traditional North African importing countries, Keith Flury, analyst at Germany-based F.0. Licht, said Tuesday (May 12).
According to Tuesday's USDA supply and demand report, North Africa - defined as Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia - expects to produce around 18.63 million tonnes of wheat, up 28 percent on the year.
Favourable weather for crop development in Morocco in particular, with good rainfall and cool temperatures in April, has aided the boost in production.
Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia traditionally supplement domestic production with French wheat imports. However, rising production will see North African imports fall to around 18.8 million tonnes in 2009-10, from 20.9 million tonnes in 2008-09.
"There's potentially a couple of million tons of French wheat that would normally be exported to North Africa which would no longer be needed because of higher stocks and increased production from expected good harvests," said Flury. "This means next years marketing year for France is not going to match this year's strong exports."
