Less French wheat exported in 2023/24 than expected, but more barley and corn

FranceAgriMer has just delivered its latest estimates for French cereal exports for the 2023/24 marketing year. For wheat, the forecast falls by 63,000 t from one month to the next, due to a drop of 150,000 t to third countries, to 10 Mt (- 2% compared to 2022/23) . In fact, “French wheat lacks competitiveness in North Africa, particularly in Algeria,” explains Adèle Dridi, in charge of economic studies. At the end of March, Algeria had imported only 1.2 Mt of French soft wheat since the start of the campaign, a drop of 28% compared to the last campaign. Exports to Morocco reached 2.3 Mt (- 2%) and those to China 2.1 Mt: twice as much as at the end of March 2023. The establishment, however, raises its forecast for exports of French wheat to the countries of the European Union by 87,000 t for 2023/24, to 6.3 Mt (- 2% compared to 2022/23), with “ an upward revision towards Benelux, Germany and Ireland, but downward towards Portugal”. In all, less French soft wheat exported than ...