PARIS- French producers of livestock feed have asked the government to guarantee a certain volume of grain is available for their sector in the face of rising export demand linked to the war in Ukraine, the head of feed makers' association SNIA said.

Russia's three-week-old invasion of fellow exporter Ukraine disrupted massive grain shipments through the Black Sea, sending European prices soaring to record highs and leaving buyers rushing to find alternative supplies.

Traders say France, the European Union's biggest grain producer and exporter, is among EU countries to have seen an upturn in export demand.

Feed makers have requested that the French government ensure 800,000 to 1 million tonnes of cereals are available each month to cover their needs during the crisis, Francois Cholat, SNIA's president, told Reuters.

"We have two markets (livestock feed and exports) that co-exist and we shouldn't put them in competition with each other," he said.

The cereal volume requested represents a typical monthly volume consumed by the French feed industry, Cholat said.

To help absorb spiralling costs, feed makers have also asked the government to provide direct aid to livestock farmers and to raise limits on grain loads transported by trucks on smaller routes, he added.

The French farm ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The government is due to announce a plan later on Wednesday to help the French economy, including the farm sector, to weather the effects of the war in Ukraine.

Elsewhere in the EU, Hungary has suspended grain exports while import-reliant Spain is relaxing rules on foreign corn to facilate inflows.

The EU is also collectively looking at the idea of letting farmers cultivate fallow land to boost local production, notably to offset a loss of protein-rich sunflower meal imports from Ukraine.

(Reporting by Gus Trompiz; editing by Barbara Lewis)