France hopes its first shipment of wheat to China in a decade will pave the way for more sales to the world's seventh-largest economy, starting with as much as 2 million tonnes from its bumper 2004 crop. But it may first have to edge out the United States and Canada, China's top suppliers. Chinese mills have also complained in the past that the protein content of French wheat is too low, a French agricultural official said on Thursday.
A 51,400-tonne cargo of French wheat docked in the northern city of Tianjin on December 15.
It was the first of a 700,000-tonne, $150 million sale to state grain trader COFCO, announced during French President Jacques Chirac's October visit to Beijing.
China became a net importer of agricultural products in 2004 as its 1.3 billion people ate more than the country produced.
"France has the capacity to sell 2 million tonnes of wheat to China," Marie-Helene Le Henaff, agricultural attache at the French embassy in Beijing, told Reuters.
"That's not to say the Chinese will buy that much - we don't know their plans - but we can sell much more than the 700,000 tonnes already committed," she said.
French wheat producers had sent representatives to promote their product to Chinese mills, Le Henaff said.