Rouen Grain Exports Slump to 2-Month Low as Wheat Slides

Grain exports from the French port of Rouen, Europe’s biggest cereal-shipping hub, fell 34 percent in the latest week as shipments of wheat and barley slumped.

Cargoes slid to 39,980 metric tons between June 21 and June 27 from 60,368 tons a week earlier, the Seine River port wrote in an e-mailed report today. That included 35,816 tons of soft wheat, down from 45,086 tons the week before.

Grain loadings fell to the lowest since the seven days through April 25. Algeria was the main destination in the most recent period with 25,001 tons of soft wheat, followed by Portugal with 9,025 tons.

Rouen accounted for 41 percent of France’s grain exports by sea in 2010-11, ahead of La Pallice on the Bay of Biscay and Dunkirk on the North Sea, which shipped out 17 percent and 11 percent respectively, according to port data.

Rouen grain loadings by destination, in metric tons:

                June 21-27
Soft wheat
Algeria             25,001
Portugal             9,025
U.K.                 1,790

Malting barley
Belgium              4,164

To contact the reporter on this story: Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at rruitenberg@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net