PARIS - French soft wheat shipments outside the European Union in September fell to their lowest monthly level in at least 11 years as activity continued to ease after a poor harvest, an initial estimate based on Refinitiv data showed.
Soft wheat exports to destinations outside the EU totalled 166,000 tonnes in September, the third month of the 2020/21 season, the Refinitiv loading data showed.
That was the smallest monthly volume in Refinitiv records going back to the 2009/10 season, with only nine ships carrying French soft wheat over the course of the month.
Cuba was the largest importer of French soft wheat for the month outside the EU, accounting for 44,000 tonnes, a stark contrast from the 255,000 tonnes shipped to China last month.
Algeria, usually the biggest market for French soft wheat, received no shipments in September.
A reduced estimate of a weather-hit harvest led farm office FranceAgriMer to cut its 2020/21 forecast for French soft wheat exports outside the EU to 6.6 million tonnes, less than half of last season's record volume of 13.5 million.
Total French grain shipments outside the EU in September were lifted by larger barley exports, where feed and malt barley combined for a total of 351,000 tonnes.
September barley exports included 173,000 tonnes of feed barley and 178,000 tonnes of malting barley, with China accounting for all of the feed barley shipments, the data showed.
For sea exports within the EU and to Britain, soft wheat shipments last month were 52,000 tonnes, while all-grain shipments totalled 185,000 tonnes.
Most French grain exported inside the EU is transported via non-maritime routes.
Total grain shipments to all destinations from French ports - including barley, malting barley, maize, waxy maize and durum wheat - reached 717,000 tonnes, a four-year low for a month of September.
(Reporting by Forrest Crellin, editing by Ed Osmond) ((Forrest.Crellin@thomsonreuters.com; +33 7 69 52 66 73))
