June 25, 2012

French Rouen's grain shipments fall 34%

In the last week, grain exports from Rouen port, France dropped 34% in the absence of cargoes to Algeria, the chief destination for French wheat.

Cargoes slid to 60,368 tonnes between June 14 and June 20 from 91,772 tonnes a week earlier, the Seine River port wrote in an e-mailed report. That included 45,086 tonnes of soft wheat, down from 86,302 tonnes in the previous week, when 52,840 tonnes of the grain were dispatched to Algeria.

Cameroon was the main destination in the latest week with 15,750 tonnes of soft wheat, ahead of Ivory Coast with 9,095 tonnes.

Rouen accounted for 41% of France's grain exports by sea in 2010-11, ahead of La Pallice on the Bay of Biscay and Dunkirk on the North Sea, which shipped out 17% and 11% respectively, according to port data.