October 19, 2011

Italy's wheat imports decreased in the first seven months of 2011 while corn imports surged 37%, Anacer said Tuesday (Oct 18).

Imports of soft wheat fell to 2,597,502 tonnes in the January-July period from 2,618,082 tonnes in the same period of 2010, while imports of durum wheat used for making pasta fell to 1,114,713 tonnes from 1,237,035 tonnes, Anacer said in a statement.

Corn imports jumped to 1,698,391 tonnes from 1,236,539 tonnes, driven mainly by imports from non-EU countries, it said without providing more details of import origins.

Italy imports corn to cover 25-30% of its demand, with almost all of its corn imports used to make animal feed and most of the inflows usually coming from Hungary and Romania, according to Italian feed makers association Assalzoo.

Barley imports rose to 556,451 tonnes in the first seven months of 2011 from 504,874 tonnes a year ago thanks to increased supplies from other EU countries, Anacer said.

Total imports of cereals and oil seeds to Italy rose 1.7% to 9,884,024 tonnes worth EUR2.9 billion (US$3.99 billion), it said.

Exports of rice from Italy, Europe's biggest producer, fell 6.1% to 440,835 tonnes.

Exports of soft wheat flour rose to 40,170 tonnes from 34,214 tonnes, while sales of durum wheat semolina fell to 48,731 tonnes from 54,451 tonnes.

Italy's exports of pasta rose 4.5% to 985,402 tonnes while exports of cereals-based animal feed rose 6.1 %to 124,118 tonnes.