Technical Sheet on French wheat

Fact Sheets /

Wednesday 23 September 2015

Europe’s leading exporter of soft wheat, France produced a record crop in 2015, giving every indication of increased exports. France is also Europe’s leading producer of soft wheat.

General market overview

 

Together with corn and rice, wheat is one of three major cereals produced worldwide, and is second only to rice as the main human food crop. From an economic perspective, there are two types of wheat:

– Soft wheat, used mainly to produce bread flour
– Hard wheat, used to produce semolina and pasta for domestic consumption.

 

France is Europe’s leading producer of cereals.

 

Production

 

The EU, as an economic entity, is the world’s leading wheat producer ahead of China (hard and soft wheats combined).

 

Soft wheat

 

The US, the EU, China, India and Russia account for on average two thirds of the global production of soft wheat, with each country producing some 40 million tonnes.

 

Since 1980, the production of soft wheat in France has increased by 58%, largely due to a rise in yields since the end of the 90s. Within the EU, in 2013 production of soft wheat rose by 9% on the previous year. France remains the leading producer of soft wheat, accounting for 27% of the total harvest, ahead of Germany and the UK. According to estimated figures released by FranceAgriMer on 10^th August, France reached record levels of production in 2015, with last season’s crop of soft wheat attaining 40.4 million tonnes. This good harvest, from one of the world’s leading producers can be explained not only by an increased area under production, at 5.2 million hectares (+3%), but also to very high yields, with 78.3 quintals per hectare. This is the first time that France’s harvest has exceeded the 40 million tonne mark.

 

Hard wheat

 

After Italy, France ranks second in Europe for hard wheat production. It produced 1.7 million tonnes in 2013, of which 622,788 tonnes was used for industrial semolina, of which a further 118,372 tonnes was exported as semolina. In 2010, 23,720 French farms cultivated hard wheat.

 

 

Consumption

 

For the period 2013-2014, half of France’s crop was used in France as animal feed, for human consumption and industrial use. Since the mid 2000’s, with increased demand for biofuels, wheat grown for alcohol production has also risen.

 

In 2014, France consumed half the production of the 2013 crop, the equivalent of just over 18 million tonnes of soft wheat. Almost 9 million tonnes were used as animal feed and 9.4 million tonnes for human consumption and associated industrial processes (flour, bread etc).

 

Exports

 

According to FranceAgriMer, French wheat exports rose to 16 million tonnes in 2014. In 2013/14, the EU accounted for 36% of sales, with 64% destined for non-EU member states. Exports were up 5% compared to the previous period (2012/2013). In addition, 1.3 million tonnes of hard wheat was exported directly to the EU and non-EU member states in grain form.

 

Major wheat-producing regions in France

 

The production of soft wheat in France is concentrated around the maritime plains of the Central Region, the Aquitaine basin, Western France and most importantly in the Paris basin. Hard wheat is the predominant cereal produced in the Mediterranean region. Together Languedoc and Provence account for 35% of France’s hard wheat crops and practically half the area under production.

 

Sources: Agreste, FranceAgriMer, SSP, Mes marchés, Chambres d’Agriculture