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French millers deal with long grind as rain-hit wheat harvest can be found in

Flour mills in France are facing greater costs and a long look for grain as they feel the results of an alarming wheat harvest, the country's milling market association stated. Heavy rain and belownormal sunshine during the growing season led to a soft wheat crop with the tiniest volume considering that the 1980s and bad readings for test weights, an important measure of crushing quality. Just 28% of the crop was showing test weights which identify the amount of flour drawn out from wheat meeting the usual standard of 76 kilos per hectolitre, farm workplace FranceAgriMer said on Wednesday.

As millers process wheat with low test weights, they were anticipated to grind 5% -6% more crop than last season for an equivalent quantity of flour, consequently raising their costs, Jean-Jerome Javelaud, vice president of industry association ANMF, informed Reuters.

Millers are having to wait to protect supply as grain handlers arrange wheat and farmers hold back on selling in action to global wheat costs that hardly cover their costs, Javelaud stated.

It's going to be a long season, he said. Millers are extremely mindful they are going to have to work with test weights of 73, 72, maybe even 71 kilos.

In northeast France, where Javelaud runs a mill, the task was particularly strenuous, with around half of the soft wheat crop downgraded to animal feed due to check weights listed below 70 kilos.

However there was no risk of supply lacks, with the domestic crushing market using about 5 million metric tons of wheat each year, a fairly small part even of this year's crop estimated at less than 26 million loads.

The main effect is anticipated to be on exports, with French 2024/25 shipments outside the European Union anticipated by FranceAgriMer to plunge by 61% from last season.

Increased extraction costs for millers may also be balanced out by moderate wheat costs, making it unlikely that consumers will see inflation effects like 2 years ago when Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused product rates to spiral, Javelaud added.

(source: Reuters)