Paris | Reuters — European Union exports of oats are on course to hit a nine-year high, official data showed on Thursday, reflecting strong U.S. demand as logistical snags curb supply of the cereal from top exporter Canada.
The supply tensions in North America have put a spotlight on what’s a niche market compared to wheat or corn, with oats futures in Chicago hitting an all-time high before pulling back sharply in volatile trading this month.
The EU this week awarded 10,000 tonnes of export licences for oats, taking the volume so far in the 2013-14 season to June 30 to 209,000 tonnes, the official data showed.
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This was the biggest volume since 230,000 tonnes in 2009-10, a level the EU should surpass by the end of this season to mark its biggest haul since 358,000 tonnes in 2004-05.
EU export licences do not always correspond to final shipments, as they can be cancelled, but are a good indicator.
Record grain harvests followed by a severe winter in Canada, the United States’ main supplier, have overwhelmed the rail network and slowed oat shipments.
Moreover, U.S. demand for oats, usually driven by human breakfast foods as well as horse feed, has been reinforced by their use in pig diets to counter the effects of a deadly pig virus, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, or PEDv.
EU exports of oats are dominated by Nordic countries Finland and Sweden. The two countries have claimed respectively 84,500 and 80,500 tonnes of EU export licences so far this season.
The licences do not show destinations but July-December shipments showed the U.S. accounted for more than half of oat exports, according to International Grains Council data.
The record for EU oat exports dates back to 2002-03 when the bloc shifted nearly a million tonnes in a season marked by a drought in Canada. But this season’s volume could set a high since the ending of EU export subsidies, which included a provision for Nordic oat exports to the U.S.
EU oat production rose to 8.4 million tonnes in 2013 from 7.8 million in each of the two previous years, according to estimates from the International Grains Council.
Other major EU producers are Poland, Britain and Germany.
— Reporting for Reuters by Valerie Parent in Paris. Additional reporting for Reuters by Nigel Hunt, writing by Gus Trompiz.
