PARIS: The European Union reinforced its newly acquired position as a net cereal importer at the end of December as a record pace of maize imports continued to outstrip faltering wheat and barley exports, official data showed on Thursday.
As of Dec. 30, the 28-country EU had imported 14.8 million tonnes of cereals since the start of the 2018/19 season in July, compared with cereal exports of 13.6 million tonnes, the data from the European Commission showed.
That showed a widening gap between imports and exports after the EU became a net importer in mid-December for the first time in more than 10 years.
The EU is one of the world's largest wheat exporters and also a significant supplier of barley, but its export role has been curbed by a drought-hit harvest last year and competition from huge Russian shipments of wheat so far this season.
Reduced supply and higher prices for wheat and barley after the disappointing 2018 harvest have boosted use of maize in livestock feed, amplifying the EU's reliance on maize imports.
EU maize (corn) imports so far in 2018/19 stood at 11.3 million tonnes. That is up 48 percent from 7.7 million tonnes at the same point last season when the EU went on to set a full-year record for maize imports.
The import flows have been encouraged by a bumper harvest in Ukraine and the EU data showed Ukrainian maize had accounted for 48 percent of EU imports this season, followed by a 32 percent share for Brazilian maize.
EU soft wheat exports in 2018/19 had reached 8.0 million tonnes by Dec. 30, down 27 percent from 10.9 million a year earlier, while barley exports had reached 2.60 million tonnes, down 2 percent from 2.64 million, the data showed.
The EU has become more dependent on French wheat exports to Algeria, with flows to other major wheat importing countries like Egypt down sharply.
Algeria has absorbed 39 percent of EU soft wheat exports so far this season, compared with 22 percent a year ago.
However, traders say an expected tightening in Russian supply could trigger an acceleration in EU wheat exports in the second half of the July-June season.
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