April 10, 2012

French Rouen's grain exports up 47% on Morocco purchases

As wheat deliveries to Morocco rose, grain exports from the French port of Rouen jumped 47% in the latest week.

Export shipments advanced to 189,434 tonnes between March 29 and April 4 from 128,865 tonnes a week earlier, the Seine River port wrote in an e-mailed report. Exports included 181,650 tonnes of soft wheat, the most in four weeks.

Morocco was the biggest destination, taking 85,250 tonnes of soft wheat compared with 27,500 tonnes the previous week, the data showed. Wheat deliveries from Rouen to Algeria fell to 59,470 tonnes from 76,550 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 English Channel, which shipped out 17% and 11% respectively, according to port data.