Soft wheat exports from the European Union in the 2022/23 season that started in July had reached 21.02 million tonnes by 5 March, up nearly 8% from 19.52 million by the same week in 2021/22, data published by the European Commission has unveiled.
EU barley exports so far in 2022/23 totalled 4.06 million tonnes, down about 30% compared with 5.83 million a year ago, while EU maize imports were at 18.57 million tonnes, 60% above a year-earlier 11.61 million.
However, the Commission said that it was still experiencing problems compiling grain trade figures from Germany and Italy.
Export data submitted by Germany from November may be inaccurate following the country's switch to a new declaration system, while for Italy import data was available only until the end of November, it said in a note.
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Top Exporter And Importers
A breakdown of the EU data showed France remained by far the biggest EU soft wheat exporter this season, with 8.39 million tonnes shipped, followed by Romania with 2.58 million, Germany with 2.47 million, Latvia with 1.90 million and Lithuania with 1.85 million.
In maize, Spain remained the leading EU maize importer so far in 2022/23 with 6.56 million tonnes, ahead of the Netherlands at 2.21 million, Portugal with 1.51 million, Hungary with 1.36 million and Poland with 1.28 million, the data showed.
Elsewhere, Ukraine sees no need to limit wheat exports for the upcoming 2023/24 July-June season, as the winter harvest looks to be larger than expected, albeit smaller than in peacetime, a top agriculture ministry official has said.
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