PARIS, FRANCE — Agri-logistics company Senalia, operator of France’s largest grain export terminal, is aiming to load 4.6 million tonnes of cereals in the 2022-23 season to June 30, up 14% from 2021-22, Reuters reported, citing a company presentation.
Between July and December 2022, Senalia loaded 2.4 million tonnes of cereals at Rouen port on the Seine, up 11% compared with the same period last season, Gilles Kindelberger, chief executive officer at Senalia, said during the presentation.
Senalia noted Chinese demand and disruption to Black Sea trade caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is expected to support the increased cereal exports. France is the European Union’s biggest grain supplier, and its brisk wheat shipments have contributed to higher overall EU wheat exports so far this season.
France, like other EU exporting countries, attracted extra demand at the start of the season after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine shut down Black Sea shipments. Exports from Russia and Ukraine have since recovered somewhat after the creation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative grain corridor in July.
After mostly shipping wheat in the first half of the season, Senalia expected barley to drive its activity for the rest of 2022-23, with increasingly competitive French barley prices winning sales from China, Kindelberger later told reporters.
