French soft wheat exports fell 3 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of the July-June season to 11.38 million tonnes from 11.72 million in the same period last season, official customs figures showed on Tuesday.
By April 1 French wheat sales to other European Union countries stood at 6.9 million tonnes, up 7 percent year-on-year, while exports outside the EU were down 15 percent at 4.47 million.
France's main export market was Algeria with wheat shipments at nearly 1.5 million tonnes, up 16 percent from last season. Within the EU, the Netherlands imported the most, taking 1.57 million tonnes, a rise of 7 percent from 2004/05.
Barley exports were 1 percent higher than last season year-on-year at 3.63 million tonnes, of which more than 80 percent were sold within the EU.
Maize exports stood at 4.7 million tonnes, down 18 percent from the same period in 2004/05.