PARIS- French soft wheat shipments outside the EU fell to their lowest in at least a decade for July as activity eased after a record 2019/20 season, with wheat volumes lagging brisk barley exports to China, Refinitiv data showed.
Soft wheat exports to destinations outside the European Union totalled 432,000 tonnes in July, the first month of the 2020/21 season, an initial estimate based on Refinitiv loading data showed.
The volume was about 216,000 tonnes lower than non-EU soft wheat exports in July last season, and the lowest July volume in Refinitiv data going back to 2009/10.
Wheat, France's biggest annual cereal export, was overtaken last month by barley, of which 480,000 tonnes was shipped outside the EU.
That included 336,000 tonnes of feed barley and 111,000 tonnes of malt barley shipments to China.
Including all grains, China was the main outlet for French exports in July with 541,500 tonnes shipped, the data showed.
July is typically a quiet period for French wheat exports as traders wait for the new harvest to come in. The start of 2020/21 is expected to be particularly slow as France is set for one of its smallest crops in years.
Farming agency FranceAgriMer forecast 2020/21 soft wheat shipments outside the EU would fall to 7.75 million tonnes, down 43% from 2019/20 and the lowest in four years.
Algeria remained the largest outlet for French soft wheat last month, with an initial estimate of 182,000 tonnes.
For sea exports within the EU and to Britain, soft wheat shipments last month were 133,000 tonnes, while all-grain shipments totalled 251,000 tonnes.
Most French grain exported inside the EU is transported via non-maritime routes.
Total grain shipments to all destinations from French ports in July - including barley, malting barley, maize, waxy maize and durum wheat - were the lowest since 2017/18 for the month at 1.17 million tonnes.
(Reporting by Forrest Crellin Editing by Gus Trompiz) ((Forrest.Crellin@thomsonreuters.com;))
