Soft wheat exports from the European Union in the /23 season that started in July had reached 14.49 million tonnes by Dec. 4, up 3.5% from 14.00 million by the same week in /22, weekly data published by the European Commission showed on Tuesday.
The year-on-year increase has narrowed in recent weeks but traders say /23 exports could accelerate again in the coming weeks after talks of large French sales to China.
A breakdown of the EU data showed France remained by far the leading EU soft wheat exporting country this season, with 5.89 million tonnes shipped, followed by Romania with 1.81 million tonnes, Germany with 1.58 million tonnes and then Latvia and Lithuania with 1.22 million tonnes each.
EU maize imports so far in /23 were at 12.65 million tonnes, 119% above a year-earlier 5.77 million.
A drought-hit EU harvest and recovery in exports from war-torn Ukraine have driven maize imports flows into the EU.
Spain is the leading EU maize importer so far in /23 with 4.73 million tonnes, ahead of the Netherlands at 1.40 million, Poland with 1.06 million, Portugal with 1.05 million, and Italy with 920,000, the data showed.
EU barley exports so far in /23 totalled 2.75 million tonnes, down 41% from 4.70 million a year ago.
