PARIS: Soft wheat exports from the European Union in the 2021/22 season that started in July had reached 16.92 million tonnes by Feb. 6, European Commission data showed on Tuesday.

The soft wheat exports were ahead of the pace last season, when 16.22 million tonnes had been shipped by the same week, the data showed.

However, the rise year on year was smaller than in the previous weekly update, in which the Commission had incorporated delayed figures for France, the EU’s biggest exporter.

France has exported 4.97 million tonnes of soft wheat so far in 2021/22, ahead of Romania’s 4.64 million tonnes and Germany’s 1.98 million tonnes, the EU data showed. Algeria was still the leading destination for EU soft wheat with 2.58 million tonnes, while China had drawn level with Egypt at 1.64 million tonnes.

EU 2021/22 barley exports had reached 5.14 million tonnes, against 4.75 million a year earlier.

France was also the leading exporting country in barley, with 2.35 million tonnes, followed by Romania’s 1.56 million tonnes. China was by far the biggest destination with 2.09 million tonnes, followed by Saudi Arabia with nearly 506,000 tonnes.

In maize, EU maize imports so far in 2021/22 were at 9.79 million tonnes, against 10.28 million a year earlier. Spain remained the largest EU maize importer, with 4.15 million tonnes, while Ukraine was the leading supplier of maize to the EU with 4.91 million tonnes.

EU 2021/22 maize exports, meanwhile, had reached 3.48 million tonnes, up from only 1.43 million tonnes a year earlier. Romania has accounted for most EU maize exports, with 2.61 million tonnes shipped so far, while Iran has been the biggest outlet on almost 905,000 tonnes, the data showed.