Rouen Grain Shipments Rise in Latest Week to Highest Since April

Grain exports from the French port of Rouen, Europe’s biggest cereal-shipping hub, more than doubled in the latest week to the highest since April on demand for wheat from Africa and a barley shipment to Saudi Arabia.

Cargoes jumped to 144,942 metric tons between Aug. 9 and Aug. 15 from 56,425 tons a week earlier, the Seine River port wrote in an e-mailed report today.

Shipments in the week included 92,438 tons of wheat and 52,504 tons of barley. Algeria was the biggest destination with 52,500 tons of soft wheat, followed by Saudi Arabia with 44,000 tons of barley.

Rouen accounted for 41 percent of France’s grain exports by sea in 2010-11, ahead of La Pallice on the Bay of Biscay, with a share of 17 percent, and Dunkirk on the North Sea, at 11 percent of the total, according to port figures.

Rouen grain loadings by destination, in metric tons:

                 Aug. 9-15
Soft wheat
Algeria             52,500
Cameroon            13,650
Ivory Coast         10,950
Benin                5,250
Cape Verde           4,988
Portugal             3,600
U.K.                 1,500

Feed barley
Saudi Arabia        44,000
Ireland              3,000
U.K.                 1,700

Malting barley
Germany              3,804

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

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