PARIS: Soft wheat exports from the European Union in the 2021/22 season that started in July had reached 13.11 million tonnes by Dec. 12, according to data published on Wednesday by the European Commission, which said figures for France were incomplete.

The cumulative 2021/22 tally had risen from 12.84 million tonnes a week earlier, a much smaller rise than in the two previous weeks when the volume had increased by more than 1 million tonnes each time.

The Commission has been incorporating missing data for top EU grain exporter France, after a database problem at the French customs service affected figures since the end of July.

The Commission expects to complete the retrieval of French data this month and provide full EU figures from the start of January, an official said earlier.

The latest weekly EU report showed 2.91 million tonnes of soft wheat exports for France, up from 2.87 million reported last week. However, Refinitiv loading data suggests France has shipped nearly 4 million tonnes outside the EU so far this season.

This week’s update by the Commission kept EU soft wheat exports so far in 2021/22 above the pace last season, when 12.06 million tonnes had been exported by the same week.

EU 2021/22 barley exports had reached 4.37 million tonnes, against 3.59 million a year ago. The French share of the EU barley volume was unchanged from the previous week at 1.90 million tonnes. Refinitiv loading figures indicate the French tally is around 2.3 million.

EU maize imports so far in 2021/22 were at 5.94 million tonnes, against 7.77 million a year ago, the Commission’s data also showed.

The weekly EU data had been delayed from Tuesday due to a technical problem that was unrelated to the French data issue.