EU 2023/24 soft wheat exports jump as Bulgaria figures updated

Soft wheat exports from the European Union since the start of the 2023/24 season in July had reached 13.61 million metric tons by Dec. 10, a sharp rise from a week earlier as delayed figures for Bulgaria were included, official data showed on Tuesday.

The European Commission’s previous report had shown soft wheat exports of 12.52 million tons by Dec. 3 but with export data for Bulgaria – a major wheat exporter – missing since mid-September.

The new weekly report no longer referred to a lack of Bulgarian figures. However, the Commission said export and import data for Italy only ran up to Nov. 23.

Total EU soft wheat exports so far this season were nonetheless 14% below the year-earlier level of 15.85 million tons.

The Commission’s figures showed Romania was the biggest EU soft wheat exporter so far in 2023/24, with 3.58 million tons shipped. Bulgarian exports were at 1.46 million tons, up from the 937,000 quoted since September, making it the EU’s fourth-largest soft wheat exporter after Romania, France and Poland.

The Commission listed the top five destinations for EU soft wheat exports so far this season, compared with a year ago, as follows:

2023/24 2022/23
Destination tons share tons share
Morocco 2,008,088 14.8% 2,163,863 13.7%
Nigeria 1,321,925 9.7% 1,157,116 7.3%
Egypt 1,148,107 8.4% 1,589,785 10.0%
Algeria 1,028,305 7.6% 2,087,085 13.2%
South Africa 697,454 5.1% 476,385 3.0%

EU maize imports so far in 2023/24 were at 7.60 million tons, down 43%from a year-earlier 13.44 million, with Spain still by far the largest EU buyer with 3.42 million tons.
The top five supplier countries for EU maize imports were listed as follows:

2023/24 2022/23
Origin tons share tons share
Ukraine 3,952,161 52.0% 5,963,758 44.4%
Brazil 2,761,459 36.3% 6,505,021 48.4%
Canada 220,158 2.9% 262,802 2.0%
Serbia 154,215 2.0% 324,404 2.4%
USA 91,785 1.2% 56,515 0.4%

EU barley exports so far this season totalled 3.05 million tons, up 5% from 2.90 million tons in the corresponding period in 2022/23.

Tags: EU, wheat, Bulgaria, export