Britain exports 12,000 tonnes wheat to Algeria

Britain has shipped 12,000 tonnes of bread wheat to Algeria, its first significant sale to the North African country since 2000/01, the Home-Grown Cereals Authority said on Thursday.

• The sale follows exports earlier this year to Morocco and Tunisia as Britain seeks new markets following a sharp drop in shipments to its traditional main customer Spain.
• Exports to Algeria for the entire 2006/07 season (July/June) totalled a meagre 19 tonnes, according to customs data. There had been no sales this season up to the end of April.
• Export availability is also expected to rise sharply later this year, boosted by increased plantings and a rebound in yields from last year’s well below normal levels.
• “The UK is expected to have a much larger availability of wheat to export from the 2008 harvest and a new customer for our breadmaking varieties is a very welcome development for the UK cereal sector,” David Sheppard, managing director of grain shipping company Gleadell Agriculture said in a statement.
• Britain has exported 64,741 tonnes of wheat to Morocco this season up to the end of April, up from just 5,250 tonnes in the entire 2006/07 season (July/June), according to customs data.
• A total of 27,500 tonnes has also been shipped to Tunisia. No wheat was exported to Tunisia in 2006/07.
• UK exports to Spain have running more than 50 percent below last year. Traders have attributed the drop to a bumper crop in Spain and reduced export availability in Britain.