France Becoming a Global Leader in Corn Seed Exports
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France is second in the European Union in Corn production for manufacturing, controlling 31 percent of the European Corn production. France’s rich diversity of soil and climate gives fruitful benefits to farmers and growers. The country has climate types, namely, continental, oceanic, and Mediterranean. The main production areas are concentrated in the west and south of France. Pays de la Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanic, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, and Grand Est are the main producer regions.
When it comes to the quality of the Corn, two factors directly affect it, which are the country’s regulatory framework and the actual system in place, which the public administration and the professionals in the field use to implement the framework.
The French Corn industry is organized under the observation of the Ministry of Agriculture of France, and the country cooperates with the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants which warrants all safeguards in terms of genetic material protection. Therefore, these two combinations result in a stable and utterly favorable environment for producing seeds with high added value.
The last three decades were not favorable for French farmers when it came to Corn due to the summer drought, which also affected Europe’s food supplies. Heat and dryness gripped much of the continent throughout summer in what may be its worst drought in at least 500 years.
The Ministry released its first estimates for the Corn crop, stressing that these were indicative levels as harvest work on Corn has not yet begun. Even though the harvest of 2022 is provisionally estimated at 12.7 million tons, 18.5 % down compared with 2021 and 9.1% lower than the five-year average. This is due to a 90,000-hectare drop in planted area and a sharp fall in expected yield to 8.7 tons per hectare from 10 tons per hectare in 2021.
The marketing year of 2021/2022 was not friendly again to the French farmers as crop conditions declined steeply to their lowest level in at least a decade due to worsening drought and the latest heatwave baked fields in the European Union’s top grain producer. This year’s rating has shed around 30 percentage points in the past month, spoiling an excellent start to the growing season.
In 2020, France exported Corn seed worth $802 million, making it the 1st largest exporter of Corn seed in the world. In the same year, Corn seed was the 92nd most exported product in France. The leading destination of Corn seed exports from France is Germany ($194 million), Spain ($90.6 million), Poland ($64 million), Romania ($49.1 million), and the United Kingdom ($43.2 million).
In 2020, France imported Corn seed worth $161 million, becoming the world’s 4th largest importer of Corn seed. France imports (Corn) seed primarily from Austria ($25.6 million), Germany ($24.7 million), and Hungary ($23.7 million).
French Efforts for Corn Export
France can play a significant role in Corn imports to the EU when Brazilian export decrease in the EU. The country primarily exports to its neighboring countries, such as Spain and Italy. The country is projected to export 4.87 million tons to the EU member states in 2021-22. The country seeks to increase its export output to other countries by strengthening cooperation with Romania.
According to Reuters, the country would cooperate in developing a project aimed at increasing efficiency at the port of Galati, equipping border points in northern Romania, maximizing the use of grain containers stationed in the port of Constanta and expanding the capacity there, and the Sulina canal.
Other sources: https://www.maizeinfrance.com/en/harvesting-grain-maize
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