France's exporters could face a shortage of grain in the second half of January if ongoing strikes in France over pension reform continue to hamper rail transport, Soufflet, one of France's biggest grain exporters, said today (Friday).
A 37-day public sector strike has drastically reduced the number of trains available and forced companies to turn to more expensive trucks for commercial freight.
"There are difficulties in supplying port silos. If the trend continues, we risk a supply shortage," Jean-Francois Lepy, head of the company's commercial branch, Soufflet Negoce, said at a press conference.
Jean-Michel Soufflet, chairman of Soufflet, said 23 trains of 1,200 tons each were cancelled at the end of last week because of the strikes, while France is experiencing strong export demand.
"For the moment, river transport is still working, but we are also facing port strikes. All shipments have been blocked since Thursday at the ports of Rouen and La Pallice, France's two largest grain export centers, due to the port strike and will not resume until Monday, port operators said.
In December, soft wheat exports from French ports reached a six-year high, although port cargoes across the country were interrupted for a few days due to the port strike.
Lepy expects French wheat exports to continue to grow strongly in 2019/20 at over 12 million tons, in line with FranceAgriMer's latest forecast. When asked whether this could reach 13 million tons, as predicted by other market participants, he said that this was possible provided competitiveness was not compromised.
Source
HANSA Terminhandel
