France's success over the last month in finding export markets for its bumper wheat supplies has prompted officials to slice more than 10% from their forecast for year-end inventories.

The reduction helped Paris wheat close at its highest level since January.

Europe's top wheat growing country will end the 2009-10 marketing year with stocks of 3.52m tonnes of the grain, FranceAgriMer, the French farm office, said, cutting its estimate by 474,000 tonnes.

The revision reflected better hopes for exports, which will hit 9.2m tonnes during the crop year, some 400,000 tonnes higher than hoped for last month, if below the 9.6m tonnes shipped in 2008-09.

Spreading the net 

After a slow start to 2010, European grain exporters have had marked success in finding new buyers, with UK wheat shipped last month to the Philippines for the first time in a number of years.

French wheat has been linked to deals in Brazil, Mexico and Thailand, well beyond its historic stronghold in North Africa, where import demand has been sapped by strong domestic crops.

"We likely benefitted from our wheat's competitiveness, helped by a drop in prices that took place in early March and the relative fall of the euro at that time," said Michel Ferret, FranceAgriMer's head of markets.

The euro has lost 10% against the dollar since early December, weakened by the sovereign debt crisis in Greece, so improving the prospects for exports from eurozone countries.

Double barley

The bureau also trimmed by 104,000 tonnes to 3.70m tonnes its estimate for French barley stocks at the close of 2009-10, citing higher sales to other European Union countries, notably the Netherlands.

Even so, inventories will have more than doubled in a year.

The estimate for year-end corn stocks was raised by 194,000 tonnes to 2.68m tonnes, thanks to lower hopes for feed use.

The data helped grain end E0.75 a tonne higher at E128.00 a tonne in Paris, matching a three-month high for the spot contract, with new crop lots faring even better.

The statistics "will ease the pressure a little on France to get rid of grain and free up space for the next crop", a London trader told Agrimoney.com.

Wheat for November delivery added E1.50 to E134.25 a tonne.