Traders Export 9.6% Of Total Wheat Harvest In August

Wheat exports in August were worth EUR150.3 million and the main destinations were Egypt, South Korea, Jordan and Bangladesh, according to the latest Eurostat data. This is several times more than in August last year when the wheat exported accounted for merely 2.6% of the 2012/2013 harvest.

“The export pace this season is surprising. The current data show that 1.5 million tons have already been exported so far (November i.e.),” says Victor Beznea, general manager of Prutul Agri Trade, a grain trading start-up. He ran the local operations of grain trader Nidera until July.

Exporters were more aggressive and beat other international companies, Beznea added.

Half of the amount of wheat exported went to traditional destinations for Romanian grain exports, in Northern Africa and Middle East.

Northern African economies bought EUR65 million worth of wheat from Romania in August or 300,000 tons. Egypt was the top destination, as the country is the world’s biggest wheat importer and bought 180,000 tons, followed by Tunisia, Syria and Libya.

“These are traditional markets for Romanian wheat and important export destinations almost always,” says Robert Arsene, general manager of Agricover, an agribusiness group with EUR217 million revenue a year.

Romanian wheat has been a real star of the regional market this season, as 40% of the amount Egypt bought in the last five months came from Romania.

The good weather this summer helped Romanian exports, as farmers were able to finish harvesting a few weeks ahead of Russia and Ukraine, which gave them a competitive edge. French wheat was not much of a competition either, because farmers in that country decided to store it and wait for a potential price increase.

One more proof of how competitive Romanian wheat is the export contracts signed with customers in countries far from the Black Sea.

Although in an area buying mostly Australian and American wheat, Japan and South Korea imported almost 180,000 tons from Romania in one month or EUR32 million worth.

“Japan ordering wheat from Romania shows we have quality wheat,” says Sorin Dogaru, head of the agriculture division of InterAgro, a grain producer and exporter with more than EUR650 million revenue a year.

The largest grain traders operating in Romania are Cargill (US), Toepfer (US), Ameropa (Switzerland) and Glencore (Switzerland).

(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)

Top export destinations for Romanian wheat in August                         

Source: Eurostat                               

Note: Price show as average FOB prices for the total amount delivered in August