The French agricultural consultancy FranceAgriMer has reduced its monthly estimate of soft wheat exports outside the EU for the fifth year in a row. The estimate of self-consumption at the farms, however, was increased sharply.
FranceAgriMer expects French soft wheat exports outside the EU to reach only 8.5 million tonnes during the 2017/18 marketing period (until 30 June). In the previous month, the estimate was 9.0 million tons.
The self-consumption estimate for the farms increased by 500,000 tonnes to 2.8 million tonnes and the expected wheat harvest to 33.3 million tonnes.
At 3.2 million tonnes, slightly lower than in the previous month (3.25 million tonnes), soft wheat stocks are likely to be down by the end of the 2017/18 season.
In addition, wheat exports within the EU could rise by 100,000 tonnes.
In the case of maize, the EU expects a decline in final stocks for 2017/18 of 100,000 tonnes to 2.7 million tonnes. The situation is different for barley, whose final stocks could rise by 100,000 tonnes to 1.1 million tonnes.
