At the end of the current marketing period, the railway strikes in France disrupt grain consignments to the largest producer in the EU. Exporters fear that prevented shipments can not be made up if the rail strike persists.
Unions started off-to-the-week strikes last week protesting against planned reforms in the SNCF state railway company.
The railway is used very differently by the French grain industry. Some companies, such as the oilseed group Avril, say that rail transport plays a minor role for them. Other companies, on the other hand, use specially reserved railway lines and the interruptions lead to increased competition for trucks or barges.
Grain traders point out that the railway strikes slows down its recovering export activity after a hitherto weak season, especially as shipping relieves only a limited amount of traffic, causing floods in the rivers or maintenance in the canals.
This increases the risk of shipping shipments in export ports, which is why export orders may be transferred to other EU countries.Senalia, which relies on 15-20% rail freight and operates north of the Rouen grain center, has only had half of the wagons ordered since last week. However, the company still has supplies in the silos in the port to compensate for the loss. The rest you try to compensate by truck or barge.
In the port of Dunkirk, the silo operator Northern Cereales also resorts to trucks and barges, trying to get the 120,000 tonnes of barley for the export of two ships to be shipped to Saudi Arabia at the end of April.
Soufflet, one of the largest French grain traders and exporters, said they received only one in four block trains in the first week of April.
Companies processing grain in France were also affected. In Brittany, the supply of animal feed manufacturers depends heavily on rail transport. But the premiums for prompt grain deliveries did not just rise there.
Most probably the starch factories are affected. The company Tereos speaks of an additional freight charge of 1 millionEuro per month, as 200,000 trucks have to replace the missing wagons. However, the company's sugar trade was not affected at all.
French starch producers processing wheat and corn receive half of their raw materials by rail. Since the factories are working in 24-hour operation, some factories could be closed from mid-May due to lack of raw materials.
Text: HANSA Derivatives Trading GmbH /
