Rouen Weekly Grain Loadings Fall 9% on Drop in Algeria Cargoes

By Rudy Ruitenberg

Grain loadings for export from the French port of Rouen, Europe’s biggest cereal-shipping hub, fell 9 percent in the seven days through yesterday as cargoes for Algeria declined.

Outbound shipments were 205,107 metric tons between Sept. 29 and Oct. 5, slipping from 225,286 tons a week earlier, the Seine River port said in an e-mailed report today. Departing cargoes included 198,793 tons of wheat.

Algeria, the biggest buyer of French grain, was the main destination for grain from Rouen for the 12th week in a row with 124,399 tons of wheat, down from 148,888 tons a week earlier, port data show.

Rouen accounted for 45 percent of France’s wheat exports in 2009-10, ahead of La Pallice on the Bay of Biscay, which shipped out 19 percent, according to data from national crops office FranceAgriMer.

Rouen grain loadings by destination, in tons:

 Sept. 29-Oct. 5 Wheat Algeria 124,399 Cameroon 30,150 Morocco 13,200 Ivory Coast 10,500 Libya 7,779 Gabon 6,500 U.K. 6,265 Barley Russia 3,300 Netherlands 3,014 

To contact the reporter on this story: Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris atrruitenberg.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter atccarpenter2.