Soft wheat exports from the European Union in the /23 season that started last month had reached 1.77 million tonnes by July 31, data published by the European Commission showed.
That compared to 1.57 million tonnes by the same week in /22, the data showed.
Unlike in its previous weekly publication, the Commission did not indicate that its grain export and import figures were possibly incomplete.
However, the soft wheat exports appeared smaller than market estimates, particularly for France, the EU’s biggest wheat producer that saw a very busy loading programme in July.
The Commission’s data attributed 453,621 tonnes of soft wheat exports to France for July, whereas port data suggests the country shipped around 1 million tonnes to non-EU countries last month.
The Commission collects EU countries’ customs figures, which can lag port data.
The Commission’s data showed Romania as the leading EU soft wheat exporter in July with 474,902 tonnes.
Disruption to Black Sea trade due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has boosted demand for EU wheat at the start of the /23 season.
EU /23 barley exports for July 1-31 totalled 585,013 tonnes against 1.47 million a year ago.
French barley shipments to China have been slower than at the start of last season, although the EU figures also looked light compared with French loading data.
EU maize imports were at 1.62 million tonnes by July 31, against 1.23 million, the data showed.
Ukraine remained the largest supplier of maize to the EU, suggesting the bloc was benefiting from non-maritime routes increasingly used prior to this week’s resumption of grain exports from Odesa port.
