The European Union this week granted export licences for 281,000 tonnes of soft wheat, taking the total since the beginning of the July 2010/June 2011 season to 16.2 million tonnes, official data showed on Thursday. The total so far in 2010/11 remained well ahead of the volume last season when 14.4 million tonnes of export licences had been cleared by the same stage.
Demand for European wheat, notably a good-quality French crop, has been boosted by poor crops in other major producers like Russia, and purchases by importing countries fearing food inflation and civil unrest. In this week's total, about 235,500 tonnes of wheat export licences were requested in France and nearly 26,000 tonnes in Germany, the data showed. The EU this week also granted licences to export 95,000 tonnes of barley, including close to 75,000 tonnes in Germany and nearly 16,000 tonnes in France.