November 12, 2010

French farm office raises corn stocks estimate
 

French farm office, FranceAgriMer, increased its forecast of corn stocks recently at the end of the 2010-11 season from 2.2 million tonnes last month to 2.6 million due to a cut in expected exports.

The new stocks projection compared with around stocks of 2.4 million tonnes at the end of the 2009-10 season on June 30.

The office decreased its forecast for French corn exports within the EU this season to 5 million tonnes in its monthly supply and demand data, as compared with 5.3 million forecast in October and 7.15 million last season. "There are significant imports of corn from outside Europe, supported by low freight rates, towards markets that are usually supplied by France," FranceAgriMer official, Michel Ferret said, noting shipments from Brazil in particular.

France usually exports corn to southern European countries like Spain. FranceAgriMer did not make changes to its forecast of a record 11.5 million tonnes of French soft wheat exports outside the EU in 2010-11. Shipments of French wheat this season have been increased by demand being switched from Black Sea countries that have stopped exports due to a severe drought that affected harvests.

The office also maintained its outlook for soft wheat ending stocks this season at about 2.2 million tonnes, an amount perceived as low. Within the wheat balance, a 200,000-tonne cut in expected imports to 800,000 tonnes was largely offset by a 150,000-tonne increase in collected crop to 31.3 million tonnes.

Last season, ending stocks for wheat were 3.4 million tonnes and non-EU exports 9.8 million tonnes, which was already a record, the office said.