PARIS, FRANCE — FranceAgriMer on Oct. 9 raised its forecast for French soft wheat exports to 11.7 million tonnes in 2019-20, which would be a four-year high and up nearly 14% compared to last year.
The sharp upward revision to exports outweighed an increase in harvest supply, which led FranceAgriMer to lower its projection of soft wheat stocks at the end of this current marketing year to 2.9 million tonnes, down 400,000 tonnes from last month’s projection.
Still, the soft wheat stocks level would be 32% higher than in 2018-19 and a three-year high, FranceAgriMer said.
France’s agricultural ministry projects that the country’s soft wheat crop will be the second largest on record at 39.7 million tonnes and nearly 17% above last year’s output.
FranceAgriMer also reduced its 2019-20 barley ending stocks by 100,000 tonnes from the previous month to 2.1 million tonnes. It also increased barley exports outside the E.U. to 3.6 million tonnes, up 200,000 tonnes from the previous month.
